MITHI: Hundreds of activists led by local leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and component parties of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) took out a rally from Islamkot to Mithi and held a demonstration in the playground of the High School Mithi on Friday.

They, along with followers of the Ghousia Jamaat, joined in the ongoing protest by leaders and members of the Bheel Intellectual Forum (BIF) to condemn the death of a labourer, Dodo Bheel, who was allegedly tortured to death by some security guards of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company. The guards are accused of subjecting Dodo and some other co-workers to intense torture after keeping them in illegal detention for many days over theft of scrap from its stores.

The protesters began their march from Islamkot and first assembled at the Fangario bus stop on their way to Mithi and then held a demonstration in the high school ground.

Speaking to the protesters, PTI and GDA leaders accused Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders, including MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, of having unleashed the reign of terror against poor Tharis through the area police. They also lashed out at Tharparkar SSP Hassan Sardar Niazi for acting as a “tool” of the PPP leaders.

BIF chief Advocate Lajpat Soorani, who was among the nine people implicated in the Islamkot rioting case and freed only a day earlier, said he and around 50 protesters rounded up during the July 3 police action were manhandled by the police. He said around 140 protesters were booked in the fabricated case.

Advocate Soorani said killers of Dodo Bheel and their accomplices would not be pardoned. He said SSP Niazi should get himself transferred from Thar before being “thrown out” of the district by people.

He said the movement for justice to Dodo’s family would continue till success.

He thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quraishi for taking personal interest in the case, and appreciated Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s efforts in this regard.

Former Thar nazim Arbab Anwar Jabbar, Arbab Khan Sahib Togachi, Bhagwandas Bheel, Bheemraj, Amin Sangrasi and others also spoke.

Speaking to this reporter on Friday, MNA Mahesh Kumar Malani rejected the allegations levelled against them by the PTI, GDA and BIF leaders.

Fact-finding committee’s probe

The fact-finding committee formed by the federal government on Friday visited Aban-Jo-Tarr village to condole Dodo’s death with his family. PTI MNA Dr Lal Chand Malhi, who leads the committee, also condemned police torture on participants in the protest against torture on poor workers on the mining company’s premises.

The bereaved family informed the committee that Dodo and some of his co-workers were kept in illegal detention for many days and subjected to intense torture over an incident of theft. They said Dodo was handed over to the Islamkot police in critical condition and was eventually taken to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his multiple injuries.

They said his two other injured co-workers were also in custody of the police, who asked the families not to disclose what happened to the injured men. They said Dodo’s post-mortem report showed 19 injuries inflicted on him with a blunt object.

MNA Malhi said he would submit the committee’s report to the PM and the relevant federal authorities soon.

The committee also visited injured worker Ghulam Qadir Khokhar at the Mithi Civil Hospital and inquired about his health.

It took a briefing on the whole episode from SSP Niazi.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2021