Daily Times

Sir: On April 28, 2013, the bullet riddled bodies of two political activists (Sajjad Markhand and Aamir Khuhawer) were found near Khairpur Naathan Shah District in Dadu). I was there and I saw the dead bodies of both these youths and students. According to their parents and party leaders, on April 24 they were picked up by Rangers from Lakana and, after four days, they were killed. This is not the first time that the dead bodies of nationalists have been found in this style; a few years ago, Samiullah Kalhoro from Mehar was found and, after that, on April 22, 2011, four leaders of the same nationalist outfit were burnt alive. Last year, Muzzaffar Bhutto’s dead body was found near Hatree bypass Hyderabad and, according to party leaders, many of their activists are missing. Traditionally, security agencies are held responsible for these actions but neither have the agencies denied nor claimed responsibility for these accusations. The ‘kill and dump’ policy in Sindh appears to have escalated bit by bit against the nationalists. The people of Sindh have grave concerns about this and have only one question on their minds: after the Bengalis and Baloch, now is it the turn of the Sindhis? It is a matter of common observation that the agencies are not accountable to anyone but still some questions need to be answered: why were these two people (Sajjad and Aamir) not brought to court for the trial? Under which law were they badly tortured and killed?

If someone is involved in any activity, which is against the state, he must be brought to court; no body has any right to kill him. It is also notable here that our agencies have adopted the kill and dump policy against only political activists but not against extremist groups like the Taliban and Hizbut Tahrir. Sindh generates revenues that are above 70 percent, and has rendered sacrifices for this country in the shape of the Bhutto family. It has struggled in the shape of the movement for the restoration of democracy but, in return, Sindh got nothing. Even Sindhis feel strange in their own homeland. These forces must learn their lesson from Balochistan where the anthem of Pakistan is scarcely sung in schools but the majority of people are not ready to live in Pakistan. However, the people of Sindh still believe in the democratic process but the corpses of these youths can definitely change these circumstances. I implore the authorities to not compel the Sindhis to climb to the tops of mountains like the Baloch. This is not in the interest of Pakistan.

DARYA KHAN CHANDIO

Hyderabad