Govt asked to help recover missing persons

PESHAWAR: The relatives of missing persons hailing from Swat on Tuesday asked the government to help recover their near and dear ones and produce them in the court of law.

Speaking at a news conference here, Syed Qamar Ali Shah, Ibrahim, Shamim Bibi, Hazrat Said and others asked Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and chief justice Supreme Court to provide them justice by helping recover their brothers, fathers and sons, who were picked up from houses, offices and other places without committing any crime.

They alleged that the security forces had picked up their relatives in 2009 and 2010 but they were neither produced in courts nor were their families informed about their whereabouts. They deplored that 270 missing persons were released by courts but many out of them were still in the custody of the forces.

Terming it an injustice with them, they said they should be produced in the court if they had committed any crime. They claimed that the security forces should present evidence against the missing persons.

They deplored that the children of missing persons were begging in the streets instead of going to schools.

They claimed that even children aged eight to 12 years were among the missing persons. They asked why the elders were not being allowed to meet the children.

They recalled that they had requested the relevant authorities but nothing practical was done for them.