[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E703-E704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONDEMNING ASSAULT ON FAMILIES OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS DURING HUNGER 
                       STRIKE IN SINDH, PAKISTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 22, 2018

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I express my grave concerns about the human 
rights situation in the Sindh province of Pakistan, with special 
reference to enforced disappearances of persons at the hands of 
Pakistani security agencies. Many of the disappeared persons are from 
the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), Jeay Sindh Mutehada Mahaz (JSMM), and Jeay 
Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM). The disappeared persons also include 
teachers, intellectuals, writers, and publishers. Six of my House 
colleagues joined me in sending a letter to the State Department on 
this issue in August 2017. I also raised this issue on the floor of the 
House in October 2017, and this problem of enforced disappearances was 
discussed in a February 2018 hearing of the Asia Subcommittee at the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee.
   I strongly condemn an incident that occurred this past weekend, when 
Pakistan's security forces assaulted the families of disappeared and 
missing persons who were on a hunger-strike in protest of these 
disappearances.
   The family members of Sindhi victims of enforced disappearances 
(mainly their daughters and wives, as male members are being held by 
the security forces or have moved underground or remain silent as they 
fear the security agencies) and their friends have launched a peaceful 
nonviolent protest for their release. The daughters and wives of the 
disappeared persons were engaged in a 72-hour hunger strike in front of 
the Press Club at Karachi that began May 20. During this nonviolent 
protest, Pakistani security forces or their agents assaulted two 
daughters of the disappeared Hidyat Lohar (an elementary school 
headmaster who was taken away in April 2017 in front of school 
children) and two daughters of Khadim Arijo (a civil servant missing 
since April 2017). Security forces also reportedly detained about five 
of the nonviolent activists, though it seems they have been released.
   It is crucial that Pakistan immediately cease these and other 
related human rights violations in the Sindh province. Pakistani 
security personnel and others involved in the enforced disappearances 
should be held accountable. I urge the U.S. State Department and 
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as our ambassador in Pakistan, 
to take up this issue with the civilian and military leadership of 
Pakistan. Our ambassador to Pakistan must receive guarantees from the 
Pakistani government regarding the protection of human rights defenders 
and of those who advocate for Sindh's missing persons. It will be even 
more significant to set up a bipartisan fact finding mission to probe 
enforced disappearances and related killings in Sindh.

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