Families of missing activists deny blasphemy charges

ISLAMABAD: The families of two missing bloggers claimed their loved ones were innocent on Wednesday after a virulent social media campaign painted the activists as blasphemers. “People are making this up, it is hearsay,” said Mesha Saeed, the wife of Ahmed Waqass Goraya who went missing from Lahore on January 4. “People are saying that Waqass is affiliated (to blasphemy). But the content attributed to Waqass on that page, he would never do that. “Whatever content is on that page, we condemn it and he is not responsible for any of it,” she said. Faraz Haider, brother of Professor Salman Haider, who disappeared from capital Islamabad on January 6, said the charges were also putting the lives of other family members in danger. Social activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir said a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court and NCHR for the recovery of the missing bloggers and a halt to the blasphemy accusations.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2017.