HOSTAGE TO THE DACOITS

In a haunting video circulating on social media, Rajesh Kumar Keswani sits shackled in chains on the floor, his body battered, his beard unkempt, and his legs bloodied from relentless beatings.

A dacoit looms over him, forcing him to face a mobile camera, his voice quivering as he delivers a desperate message to his family — an appeal dictated by his captors.

Keswani, a rice trader from Kashmore, pleads in his recent video, his voice laced with pain: “Please, just end this. It is now the 50th day of my abduction. Do not trust anyone. Fulfil their demands.”

He was kidnapped in November from his office. Despite repeated strikes and protests by civil society and Hindu groups in Kashmore, there is no sign of his rescue. His family, under immense pressure, has been asked to pay a ransom reportedly as high as Rs 10 million.

Keswani’s plight is not an isolated case. It is a grim reflection of a larger crisis that has gripped northern Sindh for decades. However, the menace of dacoits has grown more ruthless, brazen and sophisticated in recent years. Dozens of dacoit gangs, armed with sophisticated weaponry and emboldened by weak governance, operate with impunity. Kidnappings for ransom, extortion rackets that cripple local businesses, brutal killings and looting people on the major highways have become a grim, daily reality.

These acts of terror are not mere statistics; they are seismic events that shatter families, dismantle communities, and erode the very fabric of the society of northern Sindh. Viral videos of kidnapped victims — faces etched with terror, bodies shackled and bruised — serve as chilling reminders of the dacoits’ cruelty and the state’s apparent powerlessness.

Armed with increasingly sophisticated weapons and bolstered by greater networking, northern Sindh dacoits operate with near impunity — kidnapping, extorting and terrorising communities at will. With roots stretching back to colonial times, once loosely organised gangs have become structured criminal syndicates that leverage tribal loyalties and state inefficiency to their advantage…

The Indus Highway, once a vital artery for commerce and travel, transforms into a no-go zone after sunset. Buses and trucks avoid the route in darkness, while smaller vehicles, clustered together in desperate convoys, rely on a lone police escort — an unsettling symbol of the region’s fragile security.

Yet, even the police, meant to uphold law and order, find themselves outgunned and outmanoeuvred. When they attempt crackdowns, they face adversaries with advanced weapons and an intimate knowledge of the terrain. On February 28, dacoits in Shikarpur ambushed a police patrol, killing one officer and injuring another, allegedly in retaliation for a gangster’s killing by police days earlier.

Imdad Khoso, a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) from Kashmore, who organised a protest outside Karachi Press Club in late February to draw attention to their plight, says, “The situation has now become unbearable. Traders are extorted, people are kidnapped, and robberies are rampant — yet the government remains silent. How long can we live under this shadow of fear?”

For generations, Sindh’s Katcha [riverine] area, which lines the banks of the River Indus for thousands of acres — from Kashmore to Dadu on one side and Ghotki to Moro on the other — has been infamous for its criminal activity and serves as a haven for high-profile dacoits. The Katcha area is characterised by its riverbed, which remains dry for most of the year but floods during monsoons, and is divided into ketis [tribal land] controlled by powerful landlords.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Like many parts of the Subcontinent, northern Sindh has long grappled with the scourge of dacoits or ‘dharials’ as they are called in Sindhi — an issue dating back to the Arab period, according to experts.

In his book Decade of Dacoits, Imdad Hussain Sahito, a former professor at Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur, traces their presence through the Delhi Sultanate, the Arghun and Tarkhan period, the Samma dynasty, the Mughal era, the Kalhora era, the Talpur period, and British colonial rule.

The British colonial period also saw a new generation of dacoits, whose legacy extended beyond Pakistan’s independence in 1947. Sahito notes that the rural landscape of Sindh saw dramatic changes after 1954. In 1966, military ruler Gen Ayub Khan sought the help of Pir Pagaro as some dacoits were reportedly his disciples. Pagaro ordered their surrender, and those who refused were eliminated by the Hurs themselves.

The 1970s and 1980s marked a turning point, as dacoits adopted modern techniques and sophisticated weaponry. Growing socio-economic disparities and political turmoil fuelled their expansion, with young and educated criminals resorting to kidnappings for ransom. The situation worsened during the 1983 Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) against Gen Ziaul Haq’s dictatorship, triggering a surge in abductions.

Sahito’s research, focusing on 1984–1994, reveals a staggering 11,436 kidnappings in Sindh during that period. In March 1986, a jailbreak at Sukkur Central Jail saw 34 dacoits on death-row escape, forming new gangs that unleashed terror — burning villages, destroying crops, and driving thousands, mostly Hindus, to flee. 

In 1991, an unprecedented spike in kidnappings compelled then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to launch a military operation. Although it didn’t fully eradicate the dacoit gangs, the crackdown did liberate the region extending from Hyderabad and Jamshoro to Sukkur, where they had operated freely for almost three decades. This effectively pushed the dacoit strongholds into northern Sindh, primarily confining them to the area between Sukkur, Ghotki and Kandhkot-Kashmore.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

However, the dacoit problem in northern Sindh has escalated to alarming levels in recent years, posing a serious threat to the region’s security and stability. Analysts attribute this surge to multiple factors, including police inefficiency, political patronage and economic decline, all of which have created an environment conducive to organised crime. 

“What were once loosely organised groups of dacoits operating in remote areas have now evolved into highly structured criminal networks, equipped with sophisticated weaponry and advanced tactics,” says a district administration official in Ghotki, who recently reviewed drone footage captured by police to monitor dacoit hideouts in the Sindh’s Katcha area. “These criminals have reinforced their defences by digging trenches and erecting large mud barriers, leaving only narrow escape routes for motorcycles,” the official says.

The region’s difficult terrain and the heavily armed dacoits make it nearly impossible for the under-equipped police to counter these criminals, who possess military-grade weapons. Videos recorded by dacoits during police operations show them moving fearlessly near armoured vehicles. Some footage even captures attacks on armoured personnel carriers (APCs) in Kandhkot-Kashmore, Shikarpur and Ghotki, with dacoits dismantling them.

HRCP’s Khoso highlights the evolution of their tactics. “In the 1990s, they preyed primarily on the wealthy people, targeting highways,” he says. “Now, they engage in indiscriminate kidnapping and extortion, targeting victims indiscriminately — whether wealthy or poor, Muslim or Hindu, child, woman or elderly.” He cites the harrowing cases of the kidnapping of four-year-old Rafay Malik and Nazia Bibi with her two-year-old child for ransom.

Irfan Ali Samo, a senior superintendent of police in the Sindh Police, recently wrote in The News that some of the most notorious dacoits in Kashmore include the gangs of Nawab Jagirani, Khadim Bhayo, Arsla Sabzoi and Malook Bhagwar. In Shikarpur, criminal groups such as Bello Teghani, Sonaro Teghani, Sukhio Teghani, Dodo Badani, Noor Hassan Badani, Popat Badani Jatoi and Katoo Kursi remain active. Meanwhile, Ghotki faces significant security challenges due to the presence of gangs led by Rano Shar, Sanu Shar, Rahib Shar, Sooharo, Huso Shar, Lalu Phugi, Ali Hassan Jagirani and Riaz Jagirani.

KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM

Dacoits in northern Sindh have increasingly modernised their operations, with kidnapping for ransom becoming one of their most lucrative crimes. Fearful for their loved ones’ lives, families often pay exorbitant sums, further strengthening these criminal networks.

Dacoit groups meticulously plan abductions, first conducting surveillance on potential targets. Using local informants, they gather intelligence on an individual’s wealth and routine before executing the kidnapping.

Once abducted, victims are forced to record distressing videos, often depicting physical abuse, to pressure families into paying ransom. In some cases, dacoits resort to extreme brutality, including filming sexual assaults and sharing the footage online to intensify coercion.

Rather than turning to law enforcement agencies, many families negotiate with dacoits through influential tribal chieftains, particularly those from the same tribe as the criminals. A deep-seated distrust of the police discourages victims’ relatives from reporting kidnappings, as law enforcement is often seen as either ineffective or complicit. While the police frequently claim credit for ‘rescuing’ victims, families and community leaders disclose that most hostages are released only after hefty ransom payments.

Dacoits of northern Sindh are also linked with the criminal networks operating in the rest of the province and country. In some cases, abductees are even sold to dacoits of Katcha, who then escalate ransom demands. These gangs employ ruthless negotiation tactics, often seeking payments ranging between one to five million rupees, making abduction a highly profitable enterprise.

Among the most frequent targets is the Hindu community, primarily due to its economic prominence. In districts such as Ghotki, Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore, Hindu traders, particularly from upper-caste families, dominate local commerce, transportation, and land ownership. 

A notable incident occurred in January last year when Retak Kumar, a Hindu trader from Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki, was abducted by dacoits. While the Ghotki police claimed to have rescued him after 44 days, community leaders later revealed that his family had been forced to pay a significant ransom to secure his release.

A Hindu community leader says, “In many cases, kidnappings for ransom go unreported in the media. Often, Hindu community leaders negotiate discreetly through influential tribal chieftains, paying ransoms ranging from five million to 10 million rupees to ensure the safe return of their loved ones.”

Fearing further abductions, many families, including those from the Hindu community, are fleeing dacoit-infested regions and migrating to urban centres such as Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, as well as abroad, including Europe and India. 

Similar to the 1990s, criminals tend to avoid abducting individuals from “warrior” tribes (those tribes whose chieftains wield significant influence and retaliate by mobilising their armed tribesmen), as these groups are well-armed and capable of mounting retaliatory operations. Instead, they focus on middle and lower-middle class individuals, especially from peaceful and socially respected communities, as these victims are more likely to pay ransoms quickly and without provoking tribal conflicts.

A relevant example occurred in May last year when Wadera Jalal Bugti, a tribal chief of a Bugti sub-clan, led a deadly raid in Rawanti, Ghotki, targeting Shar tribe dacoits, whom he accused of murdering his son who was travelling on the highway in Ghotki.

According to a Dawn report citing police sources, the raid followed a jirga [assembly of leaders] in Balochistan’s Sui area, where the Bugti tribe vowed revenge, specifically naming the Shar clan chieftain, who is also a Pakistan Peoples Party leader, as responsible. While the Shar tribe chief attempted to de-escalate tensions, the Bugtis remained firm. When Ghotki police, citing limited weaponry, refused involvement, the Punjab police stepped in to support the Bugtis to launch the crackdown on the dacoits. 

HONEY TRAPS

A viral video circulating on social media has drawn widespread attention, showing a policeman at the Sindh-Punjab border — likely in Punjab’s Rajanpur district — warning bus passengers about a rising threat. He cautions travellers against answering calls from unknown individuals in northern Sindh, particularly women posing as loved ones or sellers of vehicles and goods. These, he claims, are sophisticated honey-trapping schemes orchestrated by criminal gangs to lure victims into kidnappings for ransom.

Initially dismissed as exaggerated, the warning has gained credibility amid a surge in such incidents in recent years. These gangs have refined their tactics, using social media and phone calls with a woman’s voice to entrap unsuspecting individuals. This digital expansion has allowed them to target victims beyond their traditional areas, broadening their reach and influence.

“Instead of abducting victims by force, dacoits now lure them in, making them unknowingly walk into their own kidnappings,” says Allah Warayo Buzdar, a veteran journalist in Ghotki, who covered dacoits for years. While residents of northern Sindh are generally aware of these schemes, Buzdar says that the people from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh’s urban centres, such as Karachi and Hyderabad, remain vulnerable.

Some abductees said that they were deceived through false promises of relationships with women or lucrative business opportunities. Initially invited to bordering towns in Punjab, such as Sadiqabad and Rahim Yar Khan, they were further enticed to cross into Ghotki or Kashmore, where they were abducted and taken to the Katcha region.

On February 26, Ghotki police claimed to have rescued three entrepreneurs kidnapped on January 3. Lured by a fake carpet-cleaning contract on Facebook, they travelled from Hyderabad to Kashmore, where they were abducted.

Sindh police data reveals that, in 2024 alone, authorities have prevented 618 honey-trap kidnappings, including 337 in Kashmore and 243 in Shikarpur, underscoring the scale of this crisis.

EXTORTIONS

In a shocking incident in recent months, Dr Sundar Das, a physician from Ghospur town near Kandhkot, received an extortion demand attached to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) shell. The chilling message warned him of dire consequences if he failed to pay. Fearing for his safety and that of his family, Dr Das abandoned his business and relocated to Karachi, leaving behind his home and livelihood.

According to residents, dacoit groups in northern Sindh have adopted a more brazen approach, moving beyond traditional kidnappings to direct extortion. They now issue threats through phone calls and deliver parcels containing RPG shells or bullets as warnings.

“This is a new and dangerous development,” says HRCP’s Khoso. “It shows that these gangs are no longer afraid of law enforcement and are operating with impunity.”

The increasing frequency of extortion cases has instilled fear among business owners, traders and professionals, many of whom are being forced to either comply with the gangs’ demands or flee their hometowns. Those who refuse to pay face violent reprisals, including targeted attacks on their homes and businesses.

NEXUS BETWEEN DACOITS AND TRIBES

The intricate nexus between dacoits and tribal structures in northern Sindh forms a formidable barrier to effective law enforcement, where criminal networks thrive under the protective umbrella of tribal patronage. 

Dacoit gangs, numbering in the hundreds, secure arms, protection and safe havens through their tribal affiliations. In return, tribal chiefs exploit these gangs for their own interests — deploying them in inter-tribal conflicts, to enforce jirga rulings, to intimidate rivals, and to influence elections while maintaining plausible deniability. 

A 2023 HRCP fact-finding report revealed that this patronage extends beyond tribes to include feudal landowners and even elements within state institutions, granting dacoits police protection and access to sophisticated weaponry. A police officer in the region adds that local officers often face fines imposed by jirgas for targeting dacoits from influential tribes. “They consider them ‘qaumi’ or tribal dacoits,” he says. 

Sher Ali Khalti, a Lahore-based journalist who has extensively covered dacoit activities in south Punjab draws a crucial distinction: “Northern Sindh’s dacoits operate within a patronage system controlled by tribal chieftains, while some south Punjab gangs, such as  Shahid Lund’s, have openly defied tribal influence, even launching attacks near tribal leaders’ deras [guest houses].”

MODERN WEAPONRY AND TRAINING

In 2023, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that Katcha dacoits had acquired advanced American weapons left behind in Afghanistan. These weapons, likely originating from the post-US withdrawal chaos in Afghanistan, have significantly widened the weaponry disparity between these gangs and the Sindh police.

Historically, the introduction of the Kalashnikov rifle changed the dynamics of crime in Sindh. “In Sindh, dacoits were the first to use this weapon, giving them a significant advantage over the police, who only obtained Kalashnikovs much later,” writes Sahito in his book. Over time, their arsenal has expanded exponentially, including rocket launchers, RPGs, and even anti-aircraft guns, procured through the black market.

The gangs’ brazen displays on social media platforms, particularly on Facebook and TikTok, showcasing firearms with gun straps adorned in traditional Sindhi embroidery, highlight this disparity. While the Sindh police primarily rely on G-3 rifles and Kalashnikovs, they are increasingly outmatched.

A police officer in Shikarpur says, “Dacoits have powerful weapons that even armoured vehicles cannot withstand. Our senior officers, including DSPs and inspectors, have been killed inside APCs (armoured personnel carriers) because their rockets can pierce through them.” He cited a 2019 incident when DSP Khanpur Rao Shafiullah was killed after dacoits fired a rocket at his APC during a mission to rescue folk singer Jigar Jalal and his band. 

HRCP’s Khoso raises a crucial question: “Northern Sindh neither shares a border with Afghanistan or Iran, nor does it have tribal areas. So how are these dacoits acquiring such advanced weapons? That is the real issue.”

THE CROSS-PROVINCIAL NEXUS

The growing ties between dacoit networks in northern Sindh and southern Punjab have significantly complicated efforts by law enforcement agencies to curb their activities. Intelligence reports indicate that these groups actively exchange weapons, resources and logistical support, forming an interconnected web of organised crime that extends across provincial borders.

“These are no longer just local gangs — they have transformed into well-coordinated criminal syndicates with deep cross-provincial links,” says a local government chairman from Kandhkot, who himself received a threatening phone call from dacoits. “The state’s inability to dismantle them has only allowed them to grow stronger.”

Khalti notes that criminal groups in both provinces are increasingly competing in brutality and sophistication. He explains that many of these dacoits belong to tribes that reside on both sides of the Sindh-Punjab border. “Most of them are related by blood and provide shelter and assistance to each other when provincial police initiate crackdowns,” Khalti says.

Movement between these regions is seamless for the dacoits. “On motorcycles, they can easily travel from Rajanpur in Punjab to Kashmore in Sindh,” Khalti adds. “They are deeply familiar with the terrain, having been born and raised in this environment. They can swim for hours and cross the river easily.”

Even when simultaneous crackdowns are launched in the border districts of Sindh and Punjab, these criminals effortlessly relocate to Balochistan, which also shares a border with the region.

THE STATE’S ‘FAILED’ RESPONSE

Despite years of police operations, efforts to dismantle dacoit gangs in northern Sindh have largely failed. In 2024, Sindh police reported 559 encounters in the Katcha region, covering Sukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore and Shikarpur, resulting in 73 dacoits killed, 120 injured, and 378 arrested. However, these operations have not significantly weakened the gangs. The cost to law enforcement has been steep, with 19 policemen killed and 31 injured, underscoring the extreme risks involved in confronting heavily armed dacoits.

A Rs2.79 billion joint operation plan and a specialised Katcha police force, mirroring the HRCP’s recommendation for a well-equipped, politically independent police unit for the region, were proposed in 2023 to combat the dacoit menace. Yet, both initiatives failed to materialise.  

In June last year, President Asif Ali Zardari proposed rehabilitating gang members willing to surrender. A month later, Sindh home minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar claimed that 80 to 100 dacoits had surrendered in Katcha. However, violence persists. Following the August ambush that killed 15 policemen in Machka, a Punjab town bordering Sindh, the Sindh government once again vowed to intensify its crackdown — an all-too-familiar cycle of reactive measures.

Analysts argue that decades of politically motivated police appointments have severely weakened law enforcement. Officers frequently face transfers due to political pressure, making it difficult to act against influential tribal leaders who provide sanctuary to dacoits. The dense riverine terrain of Katcha serves as a natural fortress for criminal activities, allowing dacoits to evade large-scale operations and slip across district and provincial borders.

Adding to the challenge is pervasive corruption within the police force. Some officers, deeply embedded in tribal networks, provide critical intelligence to criminals, sabotaging operations and perpetuating the cycle of lawlessness.

NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT

The continued reign of dacoits in northern Sindh casts a long shadow over the region, where fear eclipses security, and lawlessness thrives in the absence of firm governance. The state’s reluctance to address the issue as a national security threat — unlike its stance against Taliban militants in KP and banned ethno-separatist groups in Balochistan — downplays the severity of the crisis.

Daily incidents of kidnappings, extortion, honey traps and highway robberies paint a bleak picture of a region held hostage by criminal elements. This ongoing lawlessness exposes a profound failure of governance, particularly for the PPP, which has ruled Sindh for most of the past four decades. Many tribal chieftains, once independent power brokers, are now part of the PPP, raising serious questions about political complicity.

Over the past three months, authorities have used technological advancements, such as drones and mobile tracking systems, to monitor dacoit movements, pushing them into a defensive position, police officials and journalists say. However, the journalist Buzdar, who has covered police crackdowns for years, warns that sustained pressure is essential: “These dacoit gangs resurface the moment government focus weakens, making a long-term, comprehensive strategy crucial.”

He aptly concludes, “Until the state decides that enough is enough and proves it with consistent action, the dacoits will continue to rule the Katcha.”

The writer is a journalist and researcher whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Dawn and other publications, and has worked for various policy institutes. He can be reached at zeea.rehman@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 9th, 2025