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Sit-in against 'enforced disappearances' outside President Alvi's Karachi residence enters fifth day
Relatives of 'missing persons' on Thursday continued their sit-in outside President Arif Alvi's residence in Karachi's PECHS area for the fifth consecutive day.
Rashid Rizvi, one of the participants of the demonstration, told Dawn that there were a total of 66 victims of enforced disappearances in the country, of which 47 were from Karachi.
"Some of them were taken away as recently as two months ago while the whereabouts of others are unknown for the past five years," he said.
Rizvi reiterated the protesters' demand that missing persons be immediately released and legal action be taken against the personnel responsible for their disappearance.
He said that Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Ali Zaidi, had met the families of the 'missing persons' three days ago and had sought a list of the victims but so far, no concrete action has been taken.
Editorial: Little progress on missing persons
Meanwhile, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) today announced that the party would hold country-wide protests in support of the families of the 'missing persons' after Friday prayers.
MWM Pakistan leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafferi, in a statement, said that they support the participants of the sit-in, and demanded that the authorities take notice of such violations of human rights.
He said that if any of the 'missing persons' had committed any crime, they should be presented before the court, and urged the president to play his role for the fulfillment of the protesters' demands.
Comments (25) Closed
If you hold the banner, you should be willing to show your face.
So much money and resources are wasted on this useless position. What does the Pakistan president even do?
Fighting for your rights and fighting against the right of your people under the pretence of protecting them is very different things.....these people were using local sentiments to harm the locals so action against them was done
That's what happens in a security states - people just disappear.
This brutality of state and law enforcement has to end!
It's a universal syndrome and it subjects to the parallel and invisible part of the state.
A man got caught by US forces in 2003 in iraq. The time when this man was released in 2004, we know him as Abu Bakar Albaghdadi( head of ISIS).
Decades ago, Nayyar Zaidi, a Pakistani journalist & column-writer was picked up in US & untill now nobody knows where he is.
You may do the rest of the maths.
People just don't disappear. Justice; equality; fairness; these commodities disappear on the whims of the powers in charge. Disgraceful.
Gordon D. Walker
Canada
Who is involved in disappearance? Not a single person punished not courts are able to do anything as powerful don’t hear them too.
Either reslove or accept governments failure. But protests should not be ignored.
This enforcement disappearance must immediately be stopped. If a person has committed any crime he should be brought before the court. There is no justification for this crime by LAW enforcement agency.
Govt. Needs to take concrete actions to address the issues of the people in regards to law n order. They can blaim poor economy on the previous Govt. But law n order situation is their responsibility now. This Govt. Will only to be blamed if it's not improving. Thanks dawn for covering the news.
Wait what? Doesn't the President live in Rawalpindi in the President house?
Thank you dawn. You have shown the integrity of reporting. I salute you for supporting the victims of forced appearances
Time for ISPR to issue warning...
An obvious outcome.
Very serious matter from any relatives point of view. Government must step into resolve this big time human issue caused within our country.
The number of missing persons from AJK is huge and nowahere coming out.
Shame that these people can’t meet their relatives and know the fate of missing people.
These protesters should also come forth and tell the public whether the missing peoe are involved in anti state activities.
Unfortunately most of these disappearances are enforced by people who are supposed to find them.
Our electronic media and government are so biased that they are unable to broadcast the miseries of peaceful segment protesting for their basic human rights. Someone need to listen to these people as their loved ones are missing for years now ....
@Mani, free lunches/dinners/foreign trips and waste tax payers money.
@Mani, atleast he should respond to families....we knw they cant do anything but on personally they he can have some words to missing peraons familie
We are not demanding that free all of them we just protesting that bring them all in court and what they did against the law prove it and charged them but dont hide them from so long time..
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. - Votaire.