Sindhi Foundation protests outside Pak Consulate in Chicago, demands release of minor Hindu girl

The enforced disappearance of Priya Kumari, a minor girl from the Hindu community in Pakistan’s Sindh province has sparked international condemnation and agitation.

In the latest development related to the Priya Kumari case, the Sindhi Foundation, a Washington-based Sindhi rights advocacy organization, organized a protest outside the Pakistan Consulate in Chicago on Sunday, as per a press release issued by the Sindhi Foundation.

The protest was part of a series of protests planned by the organization, the next of which is scheduled to be held at the Pakistani Consulate in Houston on August 19.

Demanding the unconditional release of Priya Kumari, Sindhi Foundation Executive Director Sufi Munawar Laghari said in his/her statement, “The movement will continue until the objectives are achieved and the movement to save Priya Kumari is the first step towards a complete struggle for the liberation of Sindh and the Sindhi nation.”

According to the Sindhi Foundation’s press statement, Priya was kidnapped from Pakistan’s Sindh province three years ago. And the Sindh police have admitted on record that they know Priya’s whereabouts. Therefore, the Sindhi Foundation questioned the Pakistani defence forces that, if they know where she is, what is stopping them from bringing her home?

Laghari’s statement further said that there is a continuous trend of crime against Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan, which the Sindhi Foundation believes is state-sponsored. Exposing another conspiracy, Laghari said that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had ordered the construction of seven new canals on the Indus River to irrigate the Punjab province. If this happens, Sindh will turn into a desert.

The press release claimed that Zardari is the President of Pakistan and in a parliamentary democracy this is a ceremonial post. he/she has no power to implement the law. Therefore, his/her order to build canals is illegal and should not be allowed to be implemented under any circumstances.

During the protest, Laghari also listed Pakistan’s human rights violations against the people of Sindh, including land acquisition for cantonments, corporate farming, enforced disappearances of political activists and extrajudicial killings of journalists.

Sindhi Foundation in its press statement appealed to the international agencies to suspend aid to Pakistan and make it conditional until the human rights violations against Sindhis stop and Priya Kumari is safely returned to her parents.

Earlier, US Congressman Brad Sherman had raised similar concerns about Pakistan’s atrocities on the people of Sindh. Last month, in a post on ‘X’, the US lawmaker mentioned that “Every year, a thousand girls from Pakistan’s religious minority communities are abducted and forced to convert to Islam. The US must work towards ending this practice and there can be no better start than getting justice in the case of Priya Kumari, who was only 9 years old when she was abducted”.

Every year, one thousand girls #PakistanReligious minorities in the US are kidnapped and converted. The US must work towards ending this practice and there is no better way to start than by getting justice for Priya Kumari, who was only 9 years old at the time of her abduction. pic.twitter.com/u5gSdXoRFh

— Congressman Brad Sherman (@BradSherman) July 24, 2024

In his/her statement, Sherman also called on the US to pay attention to the numerous atrocities that have taken place in Sindh, including the kidnapping, forced conversion and marriage of Priya Kumari, the political assassination of Sindh activist Hidayatullah Lohar, and the shooting and eventual death of journalist Nasrullah Gadani in Karachi.

At the time, Sherman also held meetings with Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, on the need to prevent the kidnapping of young girls like Priya Kumari and to oppose attacks on journalists.