KARACHI, Oct 9: The family members of the detained Baloch activists, whose whereabouts could not be known as yet and has been in the custody of the government agencies, have expressed their concern over the safety of the detainees.

According to leaders of various nationalist parties and parents of some of the missing people, several people have gone missing ever since the launching of a military operation in Balochistan.

Included among the missing people are central leader of Jamhoori Watan Party Rauf Sasuli, provincial leader of the party Salim Baloch, Saeed Brohi and Murtaza Bugti, a nephew of slain Baloch leader Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti. They were all picked up from Karachi.

Besides, the nationalist parties claim that more than 4,000 Baloch activists had been detained or kidnapped by different government agencies. However, the agencies say that they do not have any idea about the whereabouts of the missing persons.

Some family members of the missing persons also staged sit-ins outside the Karachi Press Club to protest against the illegal detentions and seek help from human rights organisations for their recovery.

They had to postpone their campaign keeping in view the sanctity of Ramazan. They urged the government to release the imprisoned people or if there were any charges against them these should be produced in court of law.

The relatives of the detainees were of the view that “continued disappearance” of Baloch activists was the total violation of fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

They said the attitude of the state agencies was causing resentment among the Baloch populace and unrest was brewing among them which could turn into a turmoil any time.