Three men were murdered on January 26, 2025 in Chotiryaryoon, a small town in the Sanghar district, following a feud within the Junejo community. The clash not only claimed lives but also left more than 20 people injured. Since the attack, the victims led a sit-in, with bodies outside the Sanghar Press Club, demanding justice. Despite their protests, the police refused to file a First Information Report.
The victims accused Salahuddin Junejo known as Alauddin Junejo MNA from the ruling party Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP), and his accomplices.
The victim Fida Hussain Junejo is reported to have alleged that during his meeting with DIG Pervaiz Chandio, the officer claimed to be powerless to include Salahuddin Junejo’s name in the FIR, describing him as a powerful person. The police were said to have expressed readiness to file the FIR only if Salahuddin’s name was excluded.
At midnight on the fifth day of sit-in, an FIR was filed against those responsible for opening fire on victims’ relatives. Yet, the key figure, Salahuddin, was not named in the report, despite repeated demands from protesters to include him and their insistence that they would not relent in their call for his inclusion.
However, influential authorities and the police repeatedly declined to include Salahuddin’s name in FIR. In the end, the FIR was registered exactly as the powerful authorities had wanted.
The victims, who had held a five-day protest with the bodies of their loved ones, demanded an FIR that reflected their version of event. Instead, their demand was disregarded, and they returned home holding a piece of paper that contained the version of the police and the influential authorities.
It was not the FIR for which they had protested, and held onto hope that justice would prevail. But in an authoritarian system, justice is often the first casualty. Once again, in Sanghar, hope for justice has been torn to pieces.
In Sindh province, where people often rise up, protest, and demand the government act in accordance with constitution, their efforts ultimately vanish. This is because the government in Sindh, which pretends to be democratic, in reality strengthens authoritarianism with every action it takes. Citizens are denied the right to protest—should they do so, they are met with brutal repression.
This is 21st century, yet victims are forced to hold protest simply to register an FIR—a basic right that every victim should be entitled to. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, citizens are not granted to fundamental right to register an FIR on their terms.
In the end, in the Sanghar tragedy, the powerful figures within the government prevailed, while the victims, who carried three corpses, lost. When authoritarianism wears the masks of democracy, it becomes dangerously destructive, eroding everything and denying the basic rights essential for life in society.
