Munawar “Sufi”, Pakistan

“I grew up in a village in Sindh. Sindhis are considered as second-class citizens in Pakistan.
Sindh became a part of Pakistan after the British left the Indian Subcontinent. Since then, Pakistan has been ruled by the military directly and indirectly. My family were all part of the Sindhi rights movement called Jeay Sindh. When the intelligence agencies discovered our involvement, they detained my parents, Uncle and Aunt plus cousins, in military cells where they were severely tortured. After this our home was regularly raided by the authorities, forcing me to eventually go into hiding. It was the most terrifying time of my life, living in fear and having to change my identity to avoid being detained.
I arranged to meet my mother before dawn, when we thought it would be safe to say a final goodbye. However plain-clothes military personnel surprised us and took her away in a police van. I was torn apart in that moment, and still feel the internal turmoil of having to decide whether to stand and fight or leave unnoticed and continue being politically active against the authorities. I remained on the run, knowing that if I was arrested by the police or military, that I would be tortured and possibly killed.
I knew that my only real option was to leave the country and seek political asylum. When I arrived in the USA, I realized that I could never go back. Not even when my mother and father passed, or my brother and nephew were murdered in mysterious circumstances. The grief that I felt with the loss of my family when not being able to mourn at their funerals continues to torture me today.
When I choose this projected picture of me and my brother, I recall his last Facebook post, which said “مون ۾ تون موجود ازل کان” – “You’re in me since the beginning of time”.
This message gives me the courage, to continue our struggle against the injustice and torture in Sindh.”