Sindhi Foundation organises protest outside Pak Consulate in Chicago, demands release of minor Hindu girl

The case of the enforced disappearance of minor girl, Priya Kumari, belonging to the Hindu community in Pakistan’s Sindh province has gathered international condemnation and agitation.

In the latest developments relating to the Priya Kumari case, the Sindhi Foundation, a Washington-based Sindhi rights advocacy entity on Sunday organised a protest outside the Pakistan Consulate of Chicago on Sunday, a press statement by the Sindhi Foundation reported.

This protest was part of a series of protests planned by the organization, the next of these protests is scheduled to be organised at the Pakistani Consulate in Houston on August 19.

While demanding the unconditional release of Priya Kumari the Executive Director of the Sindhi Foundation Sufi Munawar Laghari in his statement mentioned “The movement will continue until objectives are achieved and the movement to rescue Priya Kumari is just the first step towards full-fledged struggle for emancipation of Sindh and Sindhi nation.

According to the press statement of the Sindhi Foundation, Priya was abducted three years ago from the Sindh Province of Pakistan. And Sindh police on record accepted that they know the whereabouts of Priya. Hence, the Sindhi Foundation questioned the Pakistani defence forces that, if they know where she was, then what was restraining them from bringing her home?

The statement by Laghari further mentioned that there is a consistent pattern of crimes against Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan, which as the Sindhi Foundation understands is state-sponsored. While unearthing another conspiracy Laghari mentioned, that the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari had ordered the construction of seven new canals over the Indus River to irrigate the Punjab province. If this would happen, Sindh will turn into a desert.

Zardari is the president of Pakistan, and it is a ceremonial post in the parliamentary democracy. He does not possess execution authority by law. Therefore, his order of construction of canals is illegal and should not be allowed to be implemented under any circumstances, the press statement claimed.

During the protest, Laghari also listed human rights violations of Paksitan against the people of Sindh which included occupying lands for cantonments, corporate farming, enforced disappearances of political activists and extrajudicial killings of journalists.

The Sindhi Foundation in their press statement further appealed to international agencies to suspend aid to Pakistan and make it conditional until human rights violations against Sindhis are halted and Priya Kumari safely returned to her parents.

Previously similar concerns regarding the atrocities of Pakistan over the people of Sindh were raised by the US Congress Brad Sherman. Last month, in a post on ‘X’ the US lawmaker had mentioned that “Each year, a thousand girls from Pakistan’s religious minority communities are abducted & converted. The U.S. must work towards an end to this practice & there is no better place to start than achieving justice in the case of Priya Kumari, who was only 9 when she was abducted”.

In his statement, Sherman also demanded the focus of the US towards several atrocities that had taken place in Sindh including, abduction, forced conversion and the marriage of Priya Kumari, the political murder of Sindh activist Hidayatullah Lohar and the gun down incident and eventual death of Journalist Nasrullah Gadani in Karachi.

Sherman at that time had also organized meetings with Donald Lu the Assistant Secretary Bureau Of South And Central Asian Affairs concerning the need to end abductions of young girls like Priya Kumari, and opposing attacks on journalists.