Jai Sindh Freedom Movement calls for release of missing persons on International Day for Enforced Disappearances

On August 30, when the United Nations is observing the International Day of Missing Persons, Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) chairman Sohail Abro, along with Zubair Sindhi, Amar Azadi and other officials, issued a joint statement calling for the release of all Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun missing persons.

The statement highlighted that the day is dedicated to acknowledging and addressing the plight of individuals who have been forcibly disappeared by state institutions.

Abro and her colleagues emphasize the global solidarity shown today for the missing persons and urge international attention to the ongoing issue. According to the statement, the victims of enforced disappearances in Sindh are often political activists who are detained by state agencies and subjected to various forms of torture.

These abuses include severe physical abuse such as hanging, waterboarding and other cruel treatment. The statement lists several activists who have reportedly been killed or faced such violence, including people such as Muzaffar Bhutto, Maqsood Qureshi and Sami Ullah Kalhoro.

The document states that more than five thousand Sindhi freedom fighters have been reported missing since 2002, which the authorities consider a serious human rights violation. Recently, on August 14, national activists Javed Mangrio, Zahid Channa, Sanwal Sindhi and Afaque Abbasi were allegedly injured by Hyderabad police and sent to a local hospital.

Also, on August 19, 2024, Goro Sindhi (also known as Jamil Shoro), a central leader of the Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement, was attacked and shot by state agents while he/she was on his/her way to visit injured activists. he/she later died at a trauma centre in Karachi.

The statement also addresses the wider scale of state persecution affecting other regions of Pakistan. It says that around 22,000 Baloch and 4,000 Pashtun national activists have been forcibly disappeared. In addition, Seraiki, Gilgit and Kashmiri activists are also reported missing in large numbers.

Recently nine bodies of Baloch national activists were recovered in different cities of Balochistan who were allegedly tortured and killed. On this International Day of the Disappeared, Jai Sindh Freedom Movement appeals to the international community, including the United Nations and Amnesty International, to take action to locate and bring back the missing activists from Pakistani government institutions, the statement said.