Pakistan: Sindhi leader urges UN to act on enforced disappearance of activists

Berlin, Jan 1 Shafi Burfat, Chairman of the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), called on the United Nations and the international community to take immediate notice of all forcibly disappeared Sindhi political activists and hold Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies accountable under international law.

The Sindhi leader accused the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies of operating with complete impunity and arbitrarily arresting Sindhi political activists engaged in peaceful political struggle.

He said many have been subjected to inhuman torture, prolonged illegal detention, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killing. Hundreds of Sindhi activists, he added, forcibly disappeared remain in secret detention and torture facilities without any judicial warrant, formal charges, or legal process.

“Pakistan has evolved into an unnatural, authoritarian, and militarised state, where historic nations have been subjugated through the political misuse of religion and the dominance of a centralised, unaccountable military establishment. In Sindh, this structure has resulted in systematic political repression, economic exploitation, and the suppression of national identity,” Burfat posted on X.

“We, the Sindhi nation, categorically reject this system of repression and demand freedom from a state that criminalises secular and national political movements, including Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, while simultaneously patronising religious extremism, militant networks, racism, and feudal elites,” he added.

The Sindhi leader formally informed the United Nations and the international community that numerous Sindhi political activists, including Ijaz Gaho, Sarvech Nohani, Sohail Bhatti, Pathan Khan Zuhrani, and Sarvech Sargani, among many others, continue to be illegally detained in the custody of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies

He highlighted that their families, parents, spouses, children, and siblings are left in complete uncertainty, unaware whether their loved ones are alive or have been killed.

“These arrests and disappearances constitute gross violations of moral values, ethical standards, the principles of human dignity, international human rights, and humanitarian law,” Burfat stated.

The Sindhi leader urged the global community to demand disclosure of the whereabouts of the victims of enforced disappearances and ensure their safe and unconditional release

Burfat asserted that the pain of Sindhi people is deepened by the fact that powerful nations continue to support Pakistan, politically, militarily, and diplomatically, while prioritising “strategic interests over human rights, justice, and the survival of oppressed nations”.

“This complicity enables Pakistan to continue its crimes while enjoying protection and legitimacy on the global stage. That a state accused of systematic enforced disappearances and political repression continues to be treated as a ‘partner’ is a moral failure of the international system. This is not only a tragedy for Sindh, but it is also a matter of profound shame for the global conscience,” he noted.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor