ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari has assured the protesting families of ‘missing’ persons of arranging their meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan next month after they agreed to end their sit-in.

Dr Mazari, on the instruction of the prime minister, met the families of ‘missing’ persons protesting near the parliament building on Saturday evening and conveyed Mr Khan’s message that he would meet their three representatives in March if they ended their protest.

While asking the families for a list of the ‘missing’ persons, the minister for human rights assured them that she would arrange their meeting with the prime minister once the status of the ‘missing’ persons could be ascertained and conveyed to the premier.

They requested her that priority be given to the ‘missing’ persons of the 13 protesting families, as some of them had been seeking the whereabouts of their relatives for more than a decade.

While talking to the minister for human rights, one of the protesters said it was the responsibility of the state to give the families of missing persons “satisfactory answers about our family members who have simply disappeared”.

The protesting families later told a press conference that the family members had come from far off areas in Balochistan.

“We have been in the capital city Islamabad for the last 10 days. Out first demand was for the Prime Minister to come and meet us. We talked to many ministers in this regard. We demanded that the issue of enforced disappearances be resolved in accordance with the law,” said a protester, adding that they had been assured that a bill on enforced disappearances would be introduced in the National Assembly.

Members of other families added that they had been assured numerous times that the issue would be resolved immediately, but the government took many positions. “It is the job of state agencies to provide reports with proof. Some media persons said the interior minister, too, had assured them that the matter would be taken up with the agencies concerned. This time again we have been told that the government is very serious,” said one of the family members.

While telling the media that there has been a strong reaction to ‘enforced’ disappearances in Balochistan, the protesting families expressed the hope that the promises made to them would be fulfilled and their loved ones would reach them even before their meeting with the PM.

They complained that they had not been taken seriously. “Many ministers came and said to end the sit-in but we did not. Dr Mazari stated that details would be given regarding the 13 families who have come here. We have been ignored by three governments,” a family member said while announcing to call off their sit-in.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2021