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The Sindhi Foundation on Sunday announced its sixth protest for the safe and unconditional return of Priya Kumari, a six-year-old Sindhi girl who was abducted in Pakistan on August 19, 2021.
The protest will be held on August 30 in New York City in front of the Consulate General of Pakistan, the Sindhi Foundation said in a statement. "The International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, August 30th, is important. We dedicate it to Priya Kumari, who was abducted in the Sindh province of Pakistan," Sufi Laghari, Executive Director of the Sindhi Foundation, said. Laghari added, "In Sindh, enforced disappearances are now a routine, it is happening every other day. Recently the State of Pakistan again revived half-fry and full-fry tactics against Sindhi nationalists. Pakistan authorities use different methods to create fear among the Sindhi people. Sindhi people will never let these methods be successful." According to the statement released by the Sindhi Foundation, the protests for Priya Kumari have three impacts. It is keeping up the momentum of Sindh's struggle in the Sindhi diaspora, it is keeping the hope up in Sindh and is bringing awareness not only about Priya Kumari's case, but also about overall situation in Pakistan's Sindh province relating to human rights and Sindhi national movement. The statement claimed, "We are showing the real face of Pakistan and at the same time exposing the character of Pakistani diplomats. We organized two protests in front of the Pakistani consulate in Chicago and Houston respectively and one in front of the High Commissioner of Pakistan in London. In all the three protests Pakistani diplomats refused to receive our memorandums highlighting our issues." The Sindhi Foundation's statement highlighted that the people in Sindh do not have any trust in the police, courts and justice system, while internationally, the Sindhi diaspora does not trust Pakistani diplomats. Therefore, the community has no other option but to bring their issues to international media. The statement further mentioned that in the Pakistani assembly, only two parliamentarians spoke about Priya Kumari's case and all others remained silent. "We will be gathering in New York on the day of International Enforced Disappearances to highlight the Priya Kumari case," the statement said. While highlighting the ongoing atrocities in Pakistan's Sindh province, the statement lamented the actions of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, claiming that he has sold the rights of Sindh in many ways to the Pakistan Military and became a puppet of the Pakistani security establishment. Zardari has allowed seven new upstream canals from the river Indus, increasing the intervention of the army in Pakistan. He handed over the precious forest land of Sindh to the army under the pretext of corporate agriculture. He also handed over the historic Karoonjhar mountains--a world's cultural heritage site--to the Pakistani army for mining of minerals. He agreed to further marginalise the Sindhi language in the educational system. He continues to remain tight-lipped about state-sponsored crimes against Hindus of Sindh which are aimed at forcing Hindus to migrate. Due to the misconceived policies of the Pakistani state, the emergence of radical and political Islam is not only a threat to the secular and Sufi culture of Sindh but it has also endangered the peace of the whole world. The Sindhi Foundation, in its statement, further appealed to the world to raise their voice against the illegal occupation of Sindh by the Pakistani army and help Sindhis get freedom from the terrorist state of Pakistan. (ANI)
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