Protest for return of ‘missing’ persons concludes

Political and human rights activists concluded a three-day hunger strike for the recovery of ‘missing’ persons on Tuesday, saying that if these people did not return to their homes within the mentioned time then they will take to the streets again.

The demonstration was held outside Karachi Press Club by the Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh Forum (VMPSF) as political parties like Jiye Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and Awami Jamhoori Party, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Sindhi Abad Sangat and other NGOs and rights advocacy groups joined to express solidarity with the cause.

VMPSF Chairperson Sorath Lohar told The News that they ended their protest after Sindh Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal offered assurance of the return of the ‘missing’ persons within a week.

She added that there were at least 60 political and social activists missing in the province for over a year. In her concluding remarks at the demonstration, Lohar said that despite a democratic rule in the country, political and social activists demanding rights, and journalists and literary figures demanding freedom of expression, end up disappearing like in the times of martial law. She stressed that enforced disappearances are a gross violation of basic human rights.

Lohar said that though law-enforcement agencies in the country have been given powers by the government, they fail to act in accordance with the law under which they are obligated to present the persons picked up by them, either on suspicion or on the basis of lawful evidence, before a judicial magistrate within 15 days.

“It has become a web in which only the poor and suppressed people are caught while the rich and powerful escape through,” she lamented. After the 18th Amendment, she said, Home Affairs became a provincial matter yet the Sindh government under Pakistan Peoples Party, responsible for the Amendment, was unable to do anything about the disappearances.

Lohar said that from day one their demand was to present the ‘missing’ persons in court if they have committed any crimes but neither the government nor the establishment took any action.

Commenting on the visits made by Sindh ministers and politicians, she said that this was the first time they had bowed due to public pressure and listened to their woes. Lohar also shared that the four people allegedly picked up by law enforcement agencies on Sunday were released on Monday; however, they were subjected to torture in custody.