HRCP calls for independent investigations into killing of political activist

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has demanded independent investigations into the murder of political activist Hidayatullah Lohar.

At a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, the HRCP called for the Sindh government to ensure that the murder of Lohar was investigated transparently and independently.

HRCP Chairperson Asad Iqbal Batt, flanked by Prof Riaz Sheikh, Mahnaz Rehman and other rights activists, launched at the press conference the commission’s fact-finding report on the murder of Lohar, who was gunned down in Nasirabad on February 16 by two men on a motorcycle.

The report revealed that the murder was most likely a targeted killing linked to Lohar's nationalist activism, on account of which he had been forcibly disappeared twice.

In the absence of any other motive, the mission found this to be a credible assumption, the report said, adding that the mission also noted with concern the police’s initial reluctance to register an FIR naming specific individuals as the accused despite testimonies from Lohar's family and CCTV footage of the incident until a court order directed this be done almost two weeks after the murder.

The Sindh government must compensate and protect Lohar’s family, given their vulnerability as vocal activists against enforced disappearances. The perpetrators of the murder must be brought to justice irrespective of any possible links to powerful quarters, it was said.