The leaders and members of the Sindhi Foundation in New York organized a protest outside the Pakistani consulate demanding the return of the abducted minor Priya Kumari, the Sindhi Foundation, a Washington-based human rights body, reported on Saturday. In a statement, Sufi Munawar Laghari, the Executive Director of the Sindhi Foundation, said, “The Pakistani military and ISI must leave Sindh and Balochistan.
They immediately must stop the genocide and enforced disappearances of Sindhis and Baloch. Their time is over”. As per the Sindhi Foundation report, the protest in New York was organised to commemorate the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Moreover, the protest mainly focused on the disappearance of Priya Kumari, a minor Hindu girl abducted on August 19, 2021, who is reportedly still missing. The protest saw the participation of the members of the Sindhi community and Intelligentsia living in New York City.
During the protest, Laghari, who has been running a global campaign for the safe return of abducted Priya Kumari and against other gross human rights violations against Sindhis, also announced the next course of action of the Sindhi Foundation for the next six months. Laghari announced that a grand exhibition of photos, paintings, posters, and poetry showcasing the years-long movement of the Sindhi Foundation would be organized in November in Washington.
Speaking on occasion, Laghari also stated, “We are done with the state of Pakistan. Consul General and other officials of the Pakistani state and ISI, you convey Sindhis’ message to the generals that we are Sindhi and Baloch nationalists are done with your oppression in garb of brotherhood, shariah, Pakistani nationalism. We are up against it. Sindhis and Balochs now want freedom”.
While addressing the rally, Zafar Javed, a Canada-based Baloch nationalist leader and intellectual and another protestor from New York said, “Pakistan is committing crimes against the human rights of Sindhis and Balochs. It is committing crimes against humanity. Yet, Pakistan is the most important ally of the United States and European Union. So the United States and the European Union must be aware of the atrocities Pakistan continues to commit on Baloch, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Hazaras and other nations.” “Power elites of Punjab, majority province of Pakistan, are exploiting Sindhis by plundering Sindh’s resources.
Punjab is a part of grand oppression against Sindhis and other oppressed nationalities with President Zardari as their puppet,” Sindhi nationalist leader Shoukat Sanjrani said while addressing the protestors. Ghulam Nabi Unar, chairman of a New York-based Sindh Academic and Cultural Council also spoke at the protest rally and warned the Pakistani state that they should not think that Priya Kumari was merely a Hindu girl abducted in Pakistan. “She is Sindhi and Sindhis know how to protect their honor and human rights,” he said. On this occasion, the poet and human rights defender Hasan Mujtaba also recited his famous poem ‘Song of Missing Persons’. Prominent among participants were poet and novelist Jani Abro, Ali Khaskheli, the joint secretary of the Sindhi Association of Norther America, and Ghazanfar Rajpar and Zafar Rajapr.