Pakistan: Sindhi student leader abducted in Karachi, rights group condemn

According to reports, Ghani Aman Chandio, the central chief organiser of the Sindh National Students Federation (SNSF), was recently abducted from a Karachi hospital.

The Balochistan Post, quoting an eyewitness account, said Chandio was abducted from the Memona Hospital on Shahrah-e-Quaideen, near Tariq Road, on October 28, where he had brought his infant daughter for treatment.

Witnesses told the news portal that a group of armed men in civilian clothes, allegedly accompanied by paramilitary Rangers personnel, entered the hospital, seized mobile phones, destroyed CCTV footage, and blindfolded Chandio before taking him away in front of his family.

Reacting to the incident, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan wrote on X: "HRCP demands the immediate recovery of political activist Ghani Aman Chandio, who was forcibly taken into custody, allegedly by state operatives at a hospital in Karachi, where he was tending to his young daughter. The manner in which this action was taken is deeply concerning. Mr Chandio and other such citizens who have been arbitrarily detained, abducted or forcibly disappeared reflect the state's continued policy of curbing fundamental freedoms and stifling political dissent. HRCP reiterates that such draconic measures only exacerbate political chaos and social fragmentation."

Amnesty International said: "The abduction of student activist Ghani Aman Chandio on 28 October from Memona Hospital in Karachi, allegedly by state forces, is deeply troubling."