Concerns voiced as another activist goes missing

The Joint Action Committee of civil society organisations on Friday vehemently condemned the alleged illegal detention of noted human rights activist, Punhal Saryo, from Hyderabad a day ago.

Saryo, convener of Voice for Sindh Missing Persons, was according to eye-witnesses picked up by police in a white double cabin – bearing number PS 2939 - when he was coming out of Café Khanabadosh on Thursday evening.

In a joint statement issued after a hurriedly called meeting of human rights organisations at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Karachi office, the human rights defenders called for immediate release of Saryo.

The activist had been actively pursuing cases of political workers who went missing in Sindh. He had also led a long march from Hyderabad to Karachi and also observed a week-long hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club, last month.

The statement maintained that human rights defenders are not spared by law enforcement agencies and are forcibly disappeared by them. A number of political workers are already missing and the police have failed to recover them, despite cases and constitutional petitions being registered with the Sindh High Court, it further read.

The activists appealed to the provincial chief minister, provincial police chief and heads of all political parties to take notice of these frequent enforced disappearances of human rights activists. They also invited attention of the National Commission for Human Rights and Sindh Human Rights Commission to assist in recovering the missing activists, especially Saryo.