KARACHI, Nov 17: A peaceful rally was held outside the press club here on Friday by the family and relatives of Gohram Saleh, a resident of Turbat who, they claimed, had been picked up by government agencies on August 28, 2004 but were not telling them about his whereabouts. The protesters also condemn raids on Gohram’s house on Nov 10 and 11 to harass the family.

Gohram’s aged ailing mother, who was being helped by his wife at the rally, condemned the government and its agencies for her son’s continued detention, saying that he had been whisked away while he was on way to Gwadar in search of a job. She lamented that her son had been in agencies custody for 28 months but the agencies would not provide any information about him.

Leaders and activists of the Baloch Prisoners’ Release Committee, Baloch National Movement, Baloch Unity Conference and Baloch Students Organisation also participated in the rally and expressed solidarity with the affected family.

Talking to media-men, Gohram’s mother said she had sent a number of appeals to the chief justice of Pakistan for suo motu notice but received no response.

She pointed out that a number of youths from Balochistan and Karachi had gone missing and many of them were still unaccounted for but the Supreme Court had not been taking suo motu notice of any of the cases. Similar was the case of the missing people hailing from Sindh and NWFP, she added.