Sindhiyani Tehreek accuses Sindh govt of failing to protect women

HYDERABAD: Sindhiyani Tehreek on Thursday sharply criticised the Sindh government, alleging that violence against women and so-called honour killings were being allowed to continue across the province.

In a statement issued in Hyderabad, the party’s central president Umrah Samon said the provincial administration had deliberately failed to stop such crimes and had, in her words, intentionally turned Sindh into a slaughterhouse for women.

She alleged that influential feudal figures linked to the ruling party had turned honour killings into a business. Samon further claimed that instead of safeguarding victims, police were facilitating those involved in such offences.

The Sindhiyani Tehreek leader also expressed concern over what she described as an increasing pattern of kidnappings involving minor girls and women in several districts of Sindh.

Concerns over kidnappings

According to Samon, cases of abduction had been reported from Hyderabad, Umerkot, Jamshoro, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur. She alleged that police had not succeeded in recovering many of the victims.

She said the situation reflected what she termed the collective criminal failure and negligence of state institutions, including the provincial government, police, judiciary and administration.

The statement amounted to a broad indictment of the province’s governance and law enforcement structure, with the party holding multiple state institutions responsible for what it said was the worsening condition of women’s safety in Sindh.

Samon’s remarks focused on two issues she said were affecting women across the province: honour-based violence and the reported abduction of girls and women in multiple districts.

She maintained that the state had failed in its duty to protect women and girls, and accused official institutions of negligence in responding to these cases.

The statement was issued by Sindhiyani Tehreek in Hyderabad on Thursday and centred on allegations against the Sindh government, police and other institutions over their handling of crimes against women.

No additional details were provided in the statement regarding specific cases, but the party listed a number of districts where it said kidnappings of minor girls and women were on the rise.

The criticism comes in the context of continued concern raised by rights groups and political organisations over women’s safety and access to justice in Sindh, as reflected in the allegations made by the party leadership in its latest statement.