Hong Kong: August 3, 2011. (PCP) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the persecution and intimidation of a human rights defender and filing of fake charges of robbery against him and his elder brother who is an education department officer of government of Sindh. The case was filed allegedly on the behest of a former Chief Minister of Sindh province whose inhuman treatment of peasants was exposed in the past by the victim in different columns. In the past, the former chief minister has also filed a case of defamation of Rupees 400 million against the editor and publisher of a media house who had published the articles of the said human rights defender. CASE NARRATIVE: Mr. Dilshad Bhutto, son of Mohammad Bux Bhutto, is a prominent human rights defender from Sindh province and he heads the campaign against torture in custody the "Anti Torture Movement Pakistan". Every year on the occasion of June 26, the international day in Support of Victims of Torture, he organizes different seminars and workshops against the practice of torture in custody with the collaboration of different human rights groups, including the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Many times, he was intimidated by powerful landlords cum politicians who opposed his activism in favour of human rights. A case of robbery was filed against Mr. Dilshad Bhutto and his elder brother Mr. Mashooq Bhutto in Taluka police station, Larkana district, Sindh province. The robbery is alleged to have occurred in the house of Mr. Nazeer Bhutto, city president of Sindh National Front and Dilshad and Mashooq were accused of looting valuable items from the house. The police immediately acted upon the first information report (FIR) and went to arrest them from Dadu city, 200 kilometers far from Larkana city. Dilshad Bhutto was not present in his house at that time and the police arrested his elder brother who is working as an officer in the department of education, Sindh government, in the early hours of July 29. Local journalists say that the complainant was also not aware that a case was filed on his behalf. The family members of the victims say that at the time of his arrest Mashooq Bhutto was mishandled by the police and that he was dragged on the road for some meters. Police is refusing to indicate his whereabouts. It is apprehended that he may be at risk of being tortured by the police to get information about his younger brother who went into hiding after the raid at his house. When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Larkana Refused to inform about his whereabouts. Local journalists say that Mr. Dilshad Bhutto was implicated in false case on the behest of Mr. Mumtaz Bhutto, former chief minister of Sindh province and a powerful landlord of the country. The former chief minister also filed a case of defamation against Mr. Zia Shahid and Dilshad Bhutto after they had written columns about his cruel ways of dealing with his tenants, including by running private detention centers ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: It is alleged that Mr. Mumtaz Bhutto, the former chief minister and federal minister, has pressured the police to arrest the human rights defender and his brother. In several instances in the past, Mumtaz Bhutto has been suspected of pressing fake charges against activists and journalists to intimidate and harass them. In 2009 Mr. Bhutto's party workers have attacked and ransacked an office of Daily Awami Awaz and beat the journalists. He is one of the strongest landlords of the country and foreign media have also made documentary on his way of dealing with the poor villagers.