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For straight four days, families of Shia missing persons and Pakistan’s Joint Action Committee (JAC) have been protesting against the Imran Khan-led government demanding the whereabouts of the missing persons.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Shehla Raza and Organisation Restoration Committee of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattar called on the protesters to express their solidarity.
They said it is a matter of concern that people in the city are missing in this manner. “It is a the democratic right of the families to protest.”
Sattar said that the issue of missing persons is a question mark on the state and state institutions. He said that political parties have failed to solve the problem of missing persons after coming to power.
“The government is showing indifference on the issue. The state should respect the basic rights of the people.” Meanwhile, Raza said: “The Sindh government has taken sensitive agencies on board on this issue.
The names of the missing persons mentioned by the families today will be recovered very soon. Istand with the families of the missing persons and feel their pain. If there are any allegations [against] the missing people, they should be presented in court”. The Joint Action Committee leaders stated that if the missing persons were involved in any crime,
they should be brought before the courts. “They should not be taken away like this with their families not even knowing whether they were dead or alive,” said the leaders.
Enforced disappearances have been a long stain on Pakistan’s human rights record. Despite the pledges of successive governments to criminalize the practice, there has been a very slow movement on legislation, while people continue to be forcibly disappeared with impunity.
Tags: Pakistan, Shia, protest, Imran Khan, enforced disappearances
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