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ISLAMABAD: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said his party will move a resolution in parliament for amending laws which violate basic human rights to ensure recovery of all ‘missing’ persons.
Talking to reporters after visiting a camp set up by the families of missing persons here on Friday, he said those who would not support the resolution would be exposed.
He said people’s brother and father were being kidnapped. “People cannot go missing like this in civilised societies.”
Mr Sharif said he had faced the same situation and suffered pain and agony.
“I have been told that almost 10,000 people are missing and I assure their relatives, including Baloch families, that we will raise voice for them.”
He alleged that the government was pursuing the policies of Gen Pervez Musharraf and was not willing to do anything for the missing persons.
He promised that the PML-N would keep trying for the recovery of the missing persons.
Mr Sharif praised the media and people working for the cause of missing persons and said their struggle had kept the issue alive.
He announced a Rs5 million donation for the struggle for the recovery of missing people.
Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said he had raised voice for missing persons during Gen Musharraf’s eight-year rule.
“If parliamentarians cannot raise voice for the missing persons, they don’t have the right to sit in the Parliament House,” he said.
If there was any allegation against those people, he said, they should be tried in courts.
Chaudhry Nisar said societies could not survive without justice. People should come out and demand the recovery of missing persons.
The chairperson of the Defence of Human Rights organisation, Amna Masood Janjua, said 100 families had arrived in the capital from across the country and many others would join the camp in coming days.
They had decided to remain at the camp till the solution of the problem, she said.
She said Rohaifa Bibi, mother of three missing men, had died after finally meeting her long-lost sons recently. The families now hope that their problem would be solved after the visits to their camp by political leaders.
Ms Janjua said the Army Act should be amended because intelligence agencies used it to detain civilians and try them in military courts while their families did not get any information about the cases.
“The dark night which started during the Musharraf rule is yet to end. Four people have been murdered in custody of the ISI and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should ensure the release of the missing persons before it is too late. Release of one or two persons is not enough; we want all the missing persons freed,” she said.
Chief of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf’s women wing Fauzia Qasuri, former MNA Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and a large number of other people were present on the occasion.
