Geneva (Switzerland):
Sindh should be given the right to self-determination through a United Nations-supervised referendum. This demand was made by Sohail Abro, Chairman of the Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement, during his intervention today on 17 March 2026 at the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in United Nations Building Geneva, Switzerland.
Sohail Abro stated that dozens of Sindhi political figures have been victims of extrajudicial killings including Bashir Khan Qureshi, Shafi Muhammad Karnani, Muzaffar Bhutto and others. He said that more than one hundred political workers, including Talib Laghari, Ayub Kandhro, and Ejaz Gaho, are still missing. He added that during the past twenty-five years more than 3,500 individuals have also been reported missing at different times.
Sohail Abro further stated that other brother nations of the Sindhis, including the Baloch, Pashtun, Seraiki, Gilgiti and Kashmiri peoples are facing similar issues. He mentioned that the father of BNM Chairman Dr. Naseem Baloch is also missing. Dr. Mahrang Baloch is currently in prison, while Pashtun leader Ali Wazir is illegally detained and PTM Leader Manzoor Pashteen is absconding.
He said that Sindh is also facing other forms of injustice, including water diversion projects that threaten the Indus River, as well as demographic engineering through mass settlement and illegal land occupation.
In conclusion, Sohail Abro stated that the Sindhi nation seeks the peaceful and democratic exercise of its right to self-determination and requested the United Nations to facilitate a supervised referendum in Sindh among the people who moved to Sindh before 1954, so that the Sindhi Nation may freely decide their political future in accordance with international law.
