US Congressman blames ISI, Pak Army for Sindhis' persecution

 Washington D.C. [United States]: US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has raised concern on the issue of persecution and disappearances of the Sindhi people in Pakistan and blamed Islamabad for the same.

Addressing the House session on Friday, Rohrabacher accused the Pakistan intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and army for the sufferings of the Sindhi population.

"Millions of Sindhi people are victimised by the Punjabi dominated regime in Islamabad. This grave injustice and massive human rights crisis involves extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and tactics common in many totalitarian dictatorships this oppression of the Sindhi's is the work of the Interservice Intelligence, the ISI of Pakistan and the corrupt Pakistani Army," Dana said.

He further underscored that keeping the grave situation in mind and Pakistan's attitude towards it, the United States should support the people of Pakistan, not their oppressive government.

"Pakistan has made their choice to drop its alliance with the United States and shown a new partnership with China and radical Islam, they are now making war on their own people. The United States should stand with the people of Pakistan, not their oppressive government," he said.

Earlier on Friday, World Sindhi Congress activist Dr Hidayat Bhutto underscored the "rampant violations" of human rights committed by Pakistan in Sindh province.

"The Pakistani establishment is ruthlessly crushing every voice and struggle of Sindhi people against the cruel loot and occupation of their resources and lands pushing them into perpetual poverty, malnutrition, social injustice, and disease. Additionally, the state is aggressively pursuing construction of multi-billion China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) without any consideration of rights of indigenous Sindhi people and the environment," Dr Hidayat Bhutto said at the ongoing 38th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

For several years, the enforced disappearances have continued in the region. More than 1,200 people belonging to different communities have gone missing in Pakistan. Since last year there has been a surge in illegal detention of people in Sindh.