Protesters demand arrest of activist Hidayat Lohar’s killers

Activists of political, social, human rights and labour organisations on Saturday held a demonstration at the Karachi Press Club to protest against the killing of prominent political leader and intellectual Hidayat Lohar.

The demonstration was organised by the National Trade Union Federation, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, the Home-Based Women Workers Federation and other organisations.

The protesters condemned Lohar’s murder, and demanded the killers’ arrest. They expressed sympathy and solidarity with the victim’s family. They said that forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of political activists and innocent citizens has turned the country into a jungle where no respect for human dignity exists.

They pointed out that the entire province of Balochistan was recently protesting against the murder of four youths in Kalat and the unending abductions of civilians.

However, they lamented, their just and lawful demands were not accepted, which proves that the constitution and law in the country are just pieces of paper, and that the courts have become a suspended organ of the state.

They said Lohar was gunned down by unidentified persons in broad daylight in Sindh, which also shows that the government has declared lawlessness as the law of the land.

They also said Lohar had been a victim of forced disappearance, and his daughters Sassi and Surath had protested across the province not only for his recovery but also against forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of thousands of innocent citizens.

They added that now both the daughters of the deceased activist are crying for justice as they protest on the road with the body of their slain father before them.

The speakers demanded that Lohar’s killers be arrested, all the forcibly disappeared citizens be recovered, and the elements involved in the disappearances of all the missing citizens be punished in accordance with the law.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Asad Iqbal Butt, Nasir Mansoor, Saeed Baloch, Qazi Khizr, Khalid Zadgan, Abdul Wahab Baloch, Mehnaz Rahman, Nuzhat Shirin, Zahra Khan, Sajjad Zaheer, Sohail Sanghi, Ellahi Bux Bikak, Uzma Noorani, Fatima Majeed, Sajjad Zaheer, Wahi Baloch, Dr Tausif Ahmed, Aqib Hussain, Fatima Majeed, Parveen Naz, Comrade Mangi, Advocate Noorudin, Shahzad Mughal and Ghulam Mahboob.