Daily Times

MITHI: Mr Hassan Sardar Niazi, the SSP of Tharkar, has said that police teams during the raids arrested Abdul Salam aka Abu Dawood from Khoski town of Badin district when he was trying to escape.

The FIR was registered at Mithi Police Station on the charges of insulting , humiliating and torturing a young Hindu boy Mukesh Bheel and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

He said that an FIR against the arrested driver of the mining company was registered under sections of  295 A and 298 of Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of inspector Mohammad Soomar on the behalf of the State.

Mr Niazi said that nobody would be allowed to vitiate the exemplary communal harmony of the desert district. He said that police officers were directed by him to arrest the accused after the activists including the leaders of Pakistan Hindu Council reacted strongly and demanded his early arrest adding he said that sections in the FIR were included on the directions of the high-ups of Sindh government as per the demands of the notables of the Hindu communities.

The immediate arrest was made after Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah taking the strong notice of the humiliation of a Hindu boy by driver of a mining company , has directed the DIG Mirpurkhas region to take strong actions.

Advocate Veerji Kolhi, the Special Assistant to Chief Minister Sindh for human rights department, talking to this reporter strongly condemned the incident and said that an accused had not only insulted a Hindu boy but also hurt the religious sentiments of all Hindus and all those  people, who  believed in secular values of Thar region.

According to the video clip, which has  gone viral on the social media, one Abdul Salam aka Abu Dawood, who is said to be  driver of a mining company engaged in the coal extraction in Block-1 of Thar Coalfields could be seen forcing a Hindu  Mukesh Bheel to call names to his god.

The accused after humiliating the boy went on to force him to abuse and denounce his god ” You people (Hindus) have already created the mess in Thar.”

The boy could be seen uttering degrading words and remarks against the boy and his religion.

Mukesh Bheel talking to the media persons deplored that the accused had forced him to call names to his gods after he was tortured and humiliated by him adding he said he had himself recorded the video on his Facebook wall.

The rights activists, members of the civil society and the people of the civil society took to the social media and expressed their anger, indignation, exasperation and resentment over the unabated atrocities of the officials of the mining firms on the local people and they  had demanded the stern  actions against such elements, who according to them, had turned the peaceful desert region in the living hell for Tharis.

The educationalist Partab Shivani in his tweet observed that a person from Rahim Yar Khan employed by the officials of the mining firms, had hurt the sentiments of Hindus in Tharparkar by forcing a young boy to pass abusive remarks about his god and religion. Mr Shivani said that such ugly acts would only create unrest among over 50 percent Hindus living in Tharparkar.

The PPP MNA from Tharparkar, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani condemning the incident asked the SSP Tharparkar to take strong actions against such elements adding he made it clear nobody would be allowed to create such lawlessness and to  humiliate and hurt religious sentiments of  Hindus or anty people other faiths in the peaceful region of the country. sentiments.

He said that it was a very condemnable and unacceptable incident by a worker of the mining firm adding he lauded the timely efforts of SSP Tharparkar for arresting the accused.