Sixty-plus Dhanoo Meghwar's hopes of retrieving her son from the clutches of the Thakurs of the Thar Desert were revived when the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) decided to take up her case. However, they were soon to be dashed when the man appointed by the HRCP to head its fact-finding mission, was put behind bars for "carrying explosive material."

He was none other I than the renowned leftist, Jam Saqi, also known as Comrade Saqi. Saqi was released after much media hype, but his house in Hyderabad was raided again by over a dozen police sleuths.

The story, however, doesn't end here. Within a few days, the police apprehended Akhtar Jam, Saqi's wife, on charges of kidnapping her own nephew. Saqi went into hiding, while his wife was unceremoniously taken to Karachi by the police. The police managed to get a remand for interrogation even though the eight-year-old nephew was produced in person to tell newsmen that no one had kidnapped him. Akhtar was finally released on court orders after staying in the police lock-up for 10 days.

"With the fabrication of phony cases against a person of Jam Saqi's stature, Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Rahim wanted to show how he plans to deal with those who dare to expose his family's high-handedness," says Jamil Soomro, a political activist.

 Jam Saqi's ordeal and that of his wife may have ended, but Mai Dhanoo's is far from over. Her trauma began some three years ago. In 2002, the family was woken up in the middle of night by the screams of Mai Dhanoo's daughter-in-law. Atam Meghwar, Dhanoo's son, spotted three men who had entered the house and took them to be thieves. He picked up a stick to challenge the intruders, hitting one of them on the head, but the men managed to escape. It transpired that the men were no ordinary thieves and had entered the house with the intent of raping Dhanoo's daughter-in -law.

Dhanoo, presently in hiding in Karachi, said the family discovered that the three intruders were the sons of Arbab Alam, elder brother of Arbab Ghulam Rahim. Fearing the inevitable repercussions, Mai's son left the village the next day and took up a job in a nearby town. "He kept visiting us off and on but mostly in the darkness of the night. We never told anyone in the village about his secret visits," Mai said.

On one of these visits, however, word leaked out and Dhanoo found several policemen, led by Arbab's nephews, entering her house to get hold of her son. “They started beating him badly, while all the women in the house pleaded for mercy. They didn't listen to anyone, dragged him out and took him away in front of dozens of villagers," she said, wiping her tears. Mai claims that she's had no news of him since then. "I don't know if he is dead or detained," she says. Fearing the worst, Mai fled from her village and has been offered shelter by human rights activists.

The Arbabs, who are known as the 'uncrowned kings' of the Thar Desert, are notorious for their gross violations of human rights. "Since Arbab Rahim was crowned king of Sindh province, the family's ruthlessness against political opponents has become even more brazen," says a political activist. Arbab Rahim himself minces no words about his demeanour and quite often says that he was "possessed by the spirit of Jam Sadiq," the day he took over as chief minister.

Arbab's ruthless tactics led Ghulam Asghar Abbasi, a sitting additional and sessions judge of Tharparkar, to appeal to the chief election commissioner in 2002. During the scrutiny of nomination papers, Abbasi had recorded a statement alleging a false declaration by Arbab, and he claims that Arbab had made an attempt on his life in retaliation.

The judge said that he complained to the concerned authorities, including the District Police Officer (DPO) Tharparkar to provide guards for his security but they did nothing to ensure his safety.

Despite these serious charges, no action was taken against Dr. Rahim by the election commission. As a result, the elections in the Thar area witnessed the height of high-handedness. At about 46 polling stations, votes between a whopping 85 to 97 per cent were polled. According to the Pakistan Election Commission's statistics, the overall turnout of the voters in densely populated cities of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur ranged from 25 to 35 per cent. However, in Tharparkar, which is sparsely populated, some 68.4 per cent of the voters apparently turned out to vote for Dr. Rahim.

Rahim, who was made a provincial minister, got dozens of locals who chose to side against him, badly beaten by his henchmen. According to the official records, he managed to get 1,100 criminal cases registered against individuals who opposed him in the elections. All these men continue to fight their cases in the courts, but the struggle for justice is likely to prove an uphill task.

His political opponents say the Arbab family's high-handedness increased manifold soon after his takeover as chief minister of Sindh. Wali Muhammad Rahimoon, an engineer by profession, is a case in point. Rahimoon, a local of Tharparkar, resigned from his job in October last year, announcing that he would contest elections against Arbab Rahim. He says that within days of the announcement, Arbab Ghulam Rahim started harassing him and his family through local touts. Failing to intimidate him, Arbab got Rahimoon arrested on charges of dacoity at a petrol pump. He was also charged with murder, the fraudulent appointment of 600 persons during his career as a civil servant, and the purchase of 2,250 acres of agricultural land.

"The police took me to a CIA torture cell in Karachi where I was kept for 16 days and severely tortured. They wanted me to announce that I would never again contemplate contesting elections against Arbab Rahim," Rahimoon said.

Rahimoon, who was released only recently, said he was also victimised because he wrote a letter to the NAB Chairman describing how Arbab had multiplied his fortune after becoming chief minister. The letter states that "Before he took over as chief minister he used to live in a rented house in Manzoor colony, Karachi, paying 6,000 rupees as rent. Now he owns a bungalow numbered FT-1 / 13 / 3 Datari Villas, Bath Island Karachi, S. M. Service Station, Petroleum (Caltex) Block 2, Sher Shah Road Karachi, Five Star Service Station Petroleum (PSO) near Lal Kothi Sharae Faisal Karachi, a bungalow in Rawalpindi on Peshawar Road and a host of other properties."

Rahimoon levelled charges of a serious nature against Arbab that include allegations of how two of Arbab's front men collected money from contractors and consultants, who work for the Sindh government, and purchased a diamond necklace worth two million rupees for Rahim's second wife. Instead of an inquiry being initiated against Dr. Arbab Rahim by the NAB, Rahimoon ironically found himself in the lock-up.

Arbab's opponents in his hometown, Tharparkar, have become victims of the worst form of torture and many of them have migrated to other towns in Sindh. Locals say that incidents ranging from rape to thefts, forced occupation of opponents' lands to their eviction, to the disconnection of irrigation water as well as the use of the police force as a private army by the Arbabs, is the order of the day in Tharparkar. "They behave like mini-gods and have virtually turned the area into their fiefdom," says a local.

Mohan Lal Meghwar, Nazim Union Council Jhirmirio, was arrested on May 13, 2005 from Thatta, where he took refuge after he sensed danger at the hands of the Sindh chief minister. He was taken to Mirpurkhas and charged with embezzling 57,000 rupees. Mohan was bailed out by the court but arrested from outside Central Jail Hyderabad as yet another case was fabricated against him. His only crime was that his brother, Engr. Gianchand, contested the general elections against Arbab Ghulam Rahim and, later, against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Similarly, 70-year-old advocate, Arbab Murad Ali, was arrested from his village Bhukirio, near Arbab's village, after he chose to offer legal support to Mir Mohammad Khan Lund who was put behind bars for opposing the Arbabs in the area. Arbab Murad Ali has been jailed in an electricity theft case.

The brazen high-handedness of Arbab Rahim is not limited to the remote Thar Desert but has been allowed full play elsewhere. Even members of the assemblies have become targets of his wrath. In one case, a PPP-backed MNA from Nawabshah, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, was arrested after he was implicated in a case of kidnapping. Ironically, the person who was nominated as a kidnap victim in the police case by the Sindh government held a press conference soon after Chandio's arrest, saying that he was never kidnapped. Chandio was then implicated in yet another case and was finally released by the courts on bail.

In the most astonishing case yet, another PPP-backed MP A from Hyderabad, Zahid Bhurgri, was arrested by the Hyderabad police while he was sitting with his friends at a restaurant in Latifabad. The next day, when his colleagues made a ruckus about the arrest during a Sindh Assembly session, the speaker, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, asked Jamshoro police officials for an explanation.

To the shock of many, Sikandar Magsi, the District Police Officer (DPO) Jamshoro, wrote a letter to the Sindh Assembly speaker, saying, "Some unknown terrorists tried to blow up Wapda electricity poles near Sann subdivision. At least three explosions were heard but no damage was done to public property. Actually, such terrorist acts are carried out these days by anti-state elements to give a bad name to the country. However, at about four in the morning of June 13, police spotted three militants who were trying to run away towards the Rani Kot area. They chased these militants and managed to arrest one of them, while two of his accomplices managed to flee. During the interrogation, police identified one of the accused as Zahid Bhurgri. He has been charged for terrorist acts and the police is investigating the case." Bhurgri has been detained at an unknown location where, according to the police, he is being interrogated.

Cases of corruption have also been filed against relatives of two MPAs, Shamim Ara Panhwar and Farheen Mughal. Their relatives, who work for the Sindh government, have been suspended on phony grounds or transferred to remote areas as punishment. The MPAs complained that they had been under pressure from the Sindh government to switch sides or else face the worst consequences.

During his speech in a budget session of the Sindh Assembly, Dr. Rahim hinted at the reasons behind the arrest of some assembly members. "Members of the opposition should learn to behave in assembly session. They should stop wearing black bands over their eyes, avoid dancing on the assembly desks or burning copies of the budget. When they are guilty of such acts, they should stop complaining about the consequences," he said.

According to Nisar Khuhro, Arbab Rahim and his family had at their disposal over a 100 vehicles, including Land Cruisers and Pajeros of various Sindh government departments. "Arbab's family members use these vehicles illegally and the cost of petrol and maintenance of these vehicles is borne by various Sindh government departments," contended Khuhro and questioned this corruption and misuse of power.

In a 15-point written charge-sheet, the PPP leader alleged that roads worth millions of rupees had been built around the village of Ghulam Rahim for the use of Arbab Ghulam Rahim's family in Tharparkar, and nobody else was allowed to use these roads. Commenting on Arbab's statement that he wouldn't flee from the country, Khuhro said: "Can Arbab tell us whose frontman Rehmatullah Jhanjhi is and for whom has he purchased a palatial house in Dubai? Jhanjhi has been awarded contracts worth millions of rupees in Tharparkar, including one for the coal highway." He alleged that thousands of acres of state land and the land of poor people in Tharparkar was illegally occupied by Arbab Ghulam Rahim and his family.

Arbab openly declares that he does not owe his election as Chief Minister solely to Parliament, but to the military. It's time the Chief Minister's chief patrons took him to task for the reign of terror he has unleashed on his opponents in Sindh.