KARACHI: Relatives of “missing persons” of Balochistan and representatives of transporters joined the sit-in organised by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) outside the Sindh Assembly building on the second consecutive day on Monday.

The main demand of the protesters was release of MNA Ali Wazir.

A delegation of the Baloch missing persons’ relatives, including Mama Abdul Qadeer Baloch, Abdul Wahab Baloch and others, met the PTM leaders and expressed solidarity with them.

Addressing the protesters, Simi Din Baloch said: “Balochs and Pakhtuns have relation of sorrows, which have brought them together today. My father Din Baloch has been missing for the past 13 years. Their [relatives of the missing persons] life has become miserable as they have been facing hardships”.

Saeeda Baloch told protesters that her father Abdul Hameed was taken away by men in plain clothes from his home around 10 months ago. She said her father had no affiliation with any political party. She said despite registration of an FIR the police appeared helpless.

“I don’t know for what crime, my father and we are being punished,” she said, adding that her father was the family’s sole breadwinner.

She asked as to why MNA Ali Wazir, who had been languishing in prison for the past 14 months, was not being released.

Representatives of a transport association and lawyer Qadir Khan also met the PTM leaders.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2022