‘Sit-in to continue until Shia missing persons recovered’

The protest for the recovery of the missing persons belonging to the Shia community entered its third day on Sunday, with the leaders of Shia groups and the families of the missing persons demanding that the authorities trace them and bring them to court.

As part of their strategy to pressurise the government and the law enforcement agencies into recovering the missing persons belonging to the Shia community, the Joint Action Committee for Shia Missing Persons had started their sit-in in front of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum on Friday.

On Sunday a large number of religious, political, social and media personalities visited the protest camp to express solidarity with the participants of the sit-in.

Later, Shia religious leaders, including Maulana Haider Abbas Abidi, Maulana Dr Aqeel Musa, Allama Sadiq Jafari, Allama Kamran Abidi, Allama Nisar Qalandari, Allama Ali Anwar Jafari and Allama Mubashir Hassan, and representatives of the Imamia Students Organisation held a joint news conference.

They said that the sit-in will continue until the recovery of the missing persons belonging to the Shia community. They warned that if their people are not released immediately, the protest camps across Pakistan will be turned into permanent sit-ins.

“It is our constitutional and legal demand, and we will not back down even an inch from our principled stand,” said Haider Abidi. “Patriotism is ingrained in our veins and souls.” The speakers said that some of their community members have been missing for six years while some of them have been missing for a decade. “The missing persons include Shia youth who have six-month-old children, and their families are here with us at the protest camp in the scorching heat,” said Musa.