KOHAT, Nov 18: The fate of the eight Tablighis (preachers) languishing in the central prison in Eriteria since Oct 30, 1993 still hangs in the balance following repeated failures of the foreign and defence ministry officials to resolve the issue.

The family members of the victims while talking to Dawn have appealed the Eriteria government to have a mercy on them as their children were living a life that of orphans. They also asked the president Gen Pervez Musharraf to reunite the families because they have suffered a lot during the last eight years and were not really sure whether the victims were alive or dead. They asked the concerned quarters to make efforts to bring back the bodies of the two victims who had been reported dead to Pakistan and hand over to the bereaved families.

In 1997 the defence ministry had got hold of the information about the missing preachers that they were alive and asked the foreign office to hand-over the case to the defence ministry after latter’s inability to bring back the preachers. Earlier all the eight members of the preachers’ party were assumed as dead or missing both by the government and the affected families here.

The official said two of the preachers had died in custody last year and the case had been shelved due to the non-cooperation and tough stance taken by the Eriterian government.

The preachers led by Mian Mohammad of Charsadda, had left Karachi for Ethiopia on July 15, 1993. The team reached Addis Ababa on Sept 20, and spent 40 days in the capital.

The Jamaat set out by road for Eriteriaand reached Asmara on Oct 30, 1993. They stayed at the Khalid Bin Walid mosque, which is the centre of Tabligh in Eriteria.

Later Mohammad Zakaria, Imam of the mosque informed ‘Raiwand’ that the party had been arrested by the Eriterian authorities on charges of terrorism and that their luggage was still lying in the mosque.

The mysterious disappearance sent a wave of shock and grief among the Tablighis and the families of the victims because according to the foreign office the Eritrian government had denied the presence of any Pakistani Jamaat in their country.

The matter was taken up by successive governments with the Eriterian authorities and various delegations had been sent in the past there to negotiate the issue but to no avail. However, it had been confirmed that the preachers were undergoing life terms on charges of terrorist activities and that six members of the party were still alive.