ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee will discuss the issues of missing persons, violence against the Shia Hazara community and discovery of mass graves with officials of the Balochistan government in Quetta on Monday.

Talking to Dawn from Quetta, chairperson of the Senate’s functional committee on human rights, Nasreen Jalil, said the committee would also meet Chief Minis­ter Dr Abdul Malik Baloch.

She said the committee members visited Pishin on Sunday where they met relatives of 22 people killed by militants in an attack on a bus in Mastung in May. She regretted that relatives of the victims were still waiting for compensation. On the other hand, the killers have not yet been arrested. A man injured in the attack, she pointed out, had almost become disabled but authorities had failed to provide him adequate medical care.

Ms Jalil, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said being a resident of Karachi she could feel the pain of families of victims of violence and missing persons.

Ms Jalil said the committee members would also meet relatives of missing persons and Baloch rights activist Mama Qadeer Baloch.

She said the committee had been approached by the Quetta corps commander with a request for a meeting.

There is no harm in listening to him, she said, adding, “It may help find out some middle way.”

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2015

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