October 31st, 2020
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Gulsher Tagar, a student activist and 3 time gold medalist in Sindhi literature, has returned home to his village in Matiari district 39 months after his alleged abduction from Karachi in 2017.
Gulsher Tagar, said to be a worker of the nationalist JSQM (Arisar) party, was abducted from Malir’s Ghaghar Phatak in Karachi on July 30, 2017. There have been many demonstrations calling for Gulsher Tagar’s recovery as part of protests highlighting scores of enforced disappearances in Sindh. Upon his arrival in his ancestral village Soomar, residents say Tagar’s mother, sisters and scores of villagers had tears in their eyes seeing him alive.
Speaking to Voicepk.net, Ali Sher Tagar, brother of Gulsher Tagar, confirms his brother’s return saying Tagar appeared healthy and in high spirits despite his 39 month incarceration. “Gulsher first reached the house of his brother in Hyderabad and later came to his ancestral village in Matiari,” he says. Ali Sher Tagar says his brother has refused to speak to media persons, adding that Tagar has not spoken to family members about details of his ordeal yet.
According to Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh representative Inaam Abbasi, Tagar had been awarded gold medals thrice by the University of Sindh for excellent performance in Sindhi literature. Besides, he was an editor of a magazine. Tagar was studying as a second year law student of Sindh Law College in Hyderabad when he went missing from Karachi in 2017. Abbasi says many victims of enforced disappearances have returned home in recent days, adding that the victims were tight lipped about speaking about their ordeal.
Asad Butt, vice chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says most victims of enforced disappearances in Sindh are affiliated with nationalist groups. State authorities often detain such individuals accusing them of sabotage, espionage and receiving funding from India. Butt says enforced disappearances spread anarchy in society and push citizens into a blind alley.
