HRC 48 General Debate on item 3 human rights situation of Sindh

Human Rights Council

48th regular session of the Human Rights Council

13 September – 8 October 2021

HRC 48 General Debate on item 3

HRC 48 General Debate on item 3 human rights situation of Sindh

Presidente,

We are profoundly grateful to UN working group on Enforced and Involuntary disappearances for comprehensively raising the issue of forced abduction of Sindhis through a joint communication in March this year. Despite this, disappearances of Sindhi political and human rights activists by Pakistani secret agencies continue unabated. In the month of August alone more than 10 prominent political workers and human rights activists including Insaf Dayo, Ayoub Kandhro, Suhail Raza Bhatti, Zakir Sahito, Kashif Tagar have been abducted.

Pakistani agencies including ISI, MI, Rangers and Police have unleashed a campaign of terror against political workers, raiding scores of houses in the wee hours, abducting people, threatening, and humiliating the inhabitants. The house of Aqib Chandio has been raided for the third time this year. The Pakistani agencies are using enforced disappearances as a tool to spread terror in order to silence any voice for the national rights of Sindhi people including basic human rights.

Sindhi people have been raising voice through rallies, hunger strikes, protests, and petitions but sadly all institutions including the judicial system has provided no remedy for the people of Sindh and the perpetrators are continuing with impunity. In the given hopeless situation, we request the Council to fulfil its responsibility to save Sindhi people from enforced disappearances by Pakistani state agencies. The perpetrators must be accountable.

Thank you