HYDERABAD, Aug 30: Representatives of civil society, politicians and lawyers on Thursday demanded release of the political activists of Sindh and Balochistan, who had been picked and held incommunicado.

They were speaking at a dialogue held under the aegis of Joint Action Committee to mark the “International Day of Disappeared Persons”.

Veteran leftist leader and human rights activist, Jam Saqi, said that enforced disappearance was the worst type of human rights violation and urged the civil society to raise voice against this injustice.

Veteran politician, Mairaj Mohammad Khan, said that the question of national and human rights was as important as the question of democracy. It was fourth time that an army operation had been launched in Balochistan, he said, adding, that the country could not be administered in such a way.

He said that enforced disappearance of political activists was an abominable act and a flagrant violation of fundamental human rights and lashed out at the politicians, who were supporting Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Noted lawyer, Hussain Bux Thebo, said that the regime of Pervez Musharraf was worse than the regime of the dictator of Chile because more people had disappeared in Pakistan than in Chile under Augusto Pinoche. More than 7,000 people in Sindh and Balochistan including journalists and social and political workers were missing and being held incommunicado, he claimed.

Sindh Democratic Forum leader, Abrar Qazi, said that the world had raised its voice against enforced disappearance and urged civil society to unite on one platform to help provide justice to the unfortunate people and their families.

The son of detained leader Asif Baladi, Jibran Baladi, said that his father’s only crime was that he loved his motherland and was a great exponent of peace.The gathering adopted several resolutions condemning the authorities over kidnapping citizens and subjecting them to torture, urging civil society to unite on one platform and launch a joint struggle for the release of disappeared persons, and demanding production of disappeared persons in courts.