Press Release

Washington, D.C: One of the numerous victims of extra-judicial arrests in Pakistan in the hands of government intelligence agencies was Aakash Malah a.k.a. Sikandar Malah from Sindh. His fate took a turn today, when according to KTN, a Sindhi television channel, he was released on bail.

Aakash Malah was one of almost eight thousand disappeared or missing persons till yesterday, who are arrested without following any legal procedure, abducted to unknown detention centers, tortured and (in some cases) even executed and thrown at unknown spots. Majority of victims facing this maltreatment hail from the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan (four thousand are from Balochistan alone, according to HRCP reports).

At the time of arrest, Aakash was a 29 year old construction worker contracted with the Pakistani government. Aakash was also an active member of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, a nationalist party fighting for the rights of the indigenous Sindhis. He was arrested by TPO and SHO Qasimabad at 8p.m. on May 16, 2006 at Chandia Village in Qasimabad, Hyderabad for no apparent reason. He has no prior criminal record, yet he was detained and tortured without allowance to appear in front of the courts.

Numerous civil demonstrations along with appeals and petitions to the high courts had been made demanding his release or information on his location. Some vocal and daring human rights organizations in Pakistan, in U.S.A. as well as the rest of the world, such as Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, The World Sindhi Institute, Amnesty International, TASSC, Human Rights Watch and more raised this national issue of Pakistan in the international media and to the influential policy makers, condemning Pakistan government for this act of state terrorism and demanding immediate release of the illegal detainees. This effort initiated a forceful movement against this particular violation of human right in Pakistan and seems to be having some impact on the state authorities, which are now realizing that their acts do not go un-noticed. The release of Aakash Malah on bail demonstrates that organized advocacy has the strength of creating positive impact. Moreover, it also indicates how much more needs to be done pro-actively in order to influence upon release of other thousands of victims from Sindh and Balochistan.

Sindhis of Sindh, in southeastern Pakistan.