‘Stoking of ethnic tensions’ by govt condemned

Karachi

The government should stop provoking negative sentiments among the people of Sindh by disseminating “partial truths” about the riots that took place across the province post-December 27, said Amar Sindhu, a representative of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday.

Sindhu, who is from Aurata Zad Publications, Hyderabad, and a member of WAF, said that the government, “should refrain from tactics that fuel ethnic tensions.”

Expressing shock over the participation of Mehnaz Rafi, former MNA, PML-Q, who is part of the advertising campaign issued by the political party, Sindhu along with Anis Haroon and Arfana Mallah (also a representative of WAF-Hyderabad), condemned the mass arrests of PPP activists and other unwarranted lodging of FIRs against citizens of Sindh as an intimidatory act against basic human rights.

“Twelve-thousand-and-twenty-six known people and 500,717 unknown persons have been nominated as terrorists, while FIRs against 2,077 people of Sindh have also been lodged along with 962 others who have been arrested since December 27, 2007, for rioting and looting without any evidence. This also includes the targeting of Sassi Palejo of the PPP, who has been held responsible for ‘burning a police station in the interior of Sindh’ and 34 journalists too,” disclosed Sindhu quoting the data gathered from various sources including Sindhi newspapers and independent investigations. She stressed that 50, 000 people from Karachi alone had been targeted in the past 12 days.

“Rape victim Kainat Soomro’s brother, Sabir Soomro, was also arrested from Dadu on charges of rioting by the police and was threatened to withdraw his sister’s case from the Sindh High Court (SHC) which proves how the government is trying to settle old scores and was taking advantage of the lawlessness,” said Anis Haroon during the conference. “The police were not even

present to identify the people in the mob,” said Haroon. “The government should be questioned about the police officials who were absent at the time of rioting and looting for three whole days,” suggested Haroon.

During the WAF delegation’s investigation in the different districts, Sindhu added that some police officers (on condition of anonymity) admitted that “they had not received orders from the higher authorities to take action for three days after the assasination of Benazir Bhutto and were under pressure to politicise the scenario and those officers who refused to do so, were issued transfer letters.”

A four-minute documentary, prepared by WAF-Hyderabad, was also screened at the conference to highlight the other side of the story where several Sindhi households gave refuge to some 250 passengers of Awam Express that stopped at a station near Jalal Marri district of Sindh following the news of Benazir’s assassination. News clippings of the report published in various were also distributed to the reporters at the conference.

“The government is trying to sabotage the events following December 27 that will destabilise the province and we should not fall prey to these tactics,” said Mallah referring to the recent advertisement issued by the PML-Q. Haroon also added that the PML-Q and MQM mentioned the raping of women among other acts of violence committed on the night of December 27, but on investigation, the WAF team came across no such victim.WAF has also learnt that due to fear of arrests several hundred families are running away from their villages. “This displacement would lead to further encouraging ‘dacoit culture,’” added

Haroon.

Haroon also condemned the setting up of Mohajir camps in Lahore for people of Sindh affected by the violence and the setting up of complaint centres for compensation (for the damage) under the auspices of political parties rather than autonomous neutral bodies with the involvement of the civil society.

The people from Sindh have been detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for ‘terrorist activities’. Thousands of names have been listed and if the innocent are not bailed out promptly, their case would have to be transferred from the Anti-Terrorism Court to the Sindh High Court (SHC) because an appeal against final judgment of the Anti-terrorism Court lies with the High Court according to the Anti-terrorist Act, explained Mallah. This would further pressurise the lawyers.

“At the Sindh High Court, lawyers have already been boycotting court proceedings under the PCO judges,” she said.

The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) also demanded of the government to take immediate steps to ensure fair and just investigation of Benazir Bhutto’s murder and all previous acts of violence including those witnessed on May 12 and October 18 in Karachi.