Pakistan: Rights group expresses concern over encounter of Sindhi activists
Aug 19, 2024
Lahore [Pakistan], August 19 : The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has raised concerns over the ongoing police encounters in Sindh, Pakistan against activists raising voices against state repression.
The HRCP, in a statement, claimed that four such encounters have been reported in the last several days. During these incidents, several suspects sustained severe injuries, as they were shot before being formally detained by the security agencies.
https://x.com/HRCP87/status/1825504920335687727?t=pQ_B-Wda6IyAXHU5uM30rw&s=08
"Sindh police recorded over 3,000 police encounters in just one year in the province in 2023. This practice violates the right to due process as well as the state's legal obligations under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act 2022 and the Convention Against Torture, to which Pakistan is a state party," the HRCP claimed.
The HRCP demanded that the culprits of these encounters be brought to justice, and strict measures must be implemented to prevent the use of unlawful and unwarranted force by the police on the Sindhi community in Pakistan.
In a previous incident, the Sindh police reportedly tried to cover a fake encounter with a civilian in the Hyderabad city of Pakistan's Sindh province.
Earlier, the Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) condemned the alleged abduction, torture, and shooting of its national activists by Pakistani state agencies, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The incident reportedly took place in Kotri, Sindh on August 14, 2024.
According to the statement from JSFM Chairman Sohail Abro and other officials, three nephews of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Central Cultural Secretary Abdul Fattah Channa--Zahid Channa, Ghulam Muhammad Channa, and Sajjad Channa--were abducted by the ISI from their homes.
A Dawn News report from May this year reported that two media personnel, a reporter and a cameraman belonging to a private TV channel, were detained by the police to stop the individuals from taking an interview with some persons who were wounded in police firing and being treated at the Liaquat University Hospital.
That report mentioned that an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was preventing them from recording statements of the injured victims, eventually being escorted to the office of the hospital's additional medical superintendent (AMS) where they were detained.
The report stated that reporter, Imtiaz Khoso, and cameraman, Niaz Mallah, had obtained permission from the Assistant Medical Superintendent, Dr Ashfaq, to record statements of the people wounded in the incident in what was claimed to be an 'encounter' by the Hyderabad police. The suspects were under treatment at the hospital's orthopedic ward in police custody.
