Sit-in held outside Governor House for recovery of missing Shia persons

The Joint Action Committee for Shia Missing Persons and families of missing Shia persons on Wednesday held a protest sit-in in front of the Governor House where they alleged that the government and state institutions were not serious about having their loved ones recovered.

Children of missing persons along with their mothers gathered near the main gate of the Governor House and registered their protest. Contingents of police were already deployed on Aiwan-e-Sadar Road where temporary barriers were also erected.

Protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands and slogans. Some of them carried images of the president, prime Minister, chief of the army staff and governor.

Action committee leaders, including Allama Hadi Wilayati, Allama Roohullah Hussaini and Abbas Jafari, and family members of missing persons also spoke to the sit-in participants, demanding all the ‘missing’ Shia persons be presented before courts so that they could defend themselves.

They lamented that the families of victims of enforced disappearances had been protesting since April 2 near the Mazar-e-Quaid but the state authorities did not bother to address their grievances.

They also said the families of the missing persons were facing immense economic difficulties to the extent that even their children could not continue studies. “Parents of some missing persons have died after having longed for rejoining their loved one. Even children have been suffering from diseases due to lack of their patrons with them,” said a speaker. “The missing persons’ mothers have become fed up due to hopelessness regarding the victims.”

Later, the Joint Action Committee for Shia Missing Persons in a press release expressed anger at the alleged refusal of the governor to meet the families of Shia missing persons. “The Sindh governor represents the federation of Pakistan. Therefore, the protesters have held a sit-in protest outside the Governor House,” read the press release.