Missing persons?: Family asks for release of eight relatives
The family's relatives went missing during a military operation in the area.
PESHAWAR:
In a protest held outside the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, a family from Swat demanded the government to release eight of their relatives, who went missing during a military operation in the area.
Abdus Sattar, a resident of Delae Tehsil Kabal, alleged that security forces arrested his family members on July 7, 2009.
The demonstrators, holding pictures of the detained people, demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan take action to release their family members. They said that their relatives were not involved in militant activities and neither were they associated with terrorist organisations.
The family said the eight men had neither been released nor had any criminal charges been filed against them.
He further said that a man from Katlang, Mardan district, who identified himself as Muhammad Khan, took Rs2 million as a bribe and assured them of the release of their family members. However, no action was taken after this.
Illegal police activity
In another demonstration, a woman said that Mardan City Police SHO Shah Mumtaz had illegally arrested her husband Gul Bacha and put him in a private jail. She said Mumtaz demanded Rs1 million for the release of her husband.
She demanded the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to take action against the SHO, who she said was involved in criminal activities. She also asked authorities to prove any criminal charges against her husband and requested that he is brought before a court of law.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.
In a protest held outside the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, a family from Swat demanded the government to release eight of their relatives, who went missing during a military operation in the area.
Abdus Sattar, a resident of Delae Tehsil Kabal, alleged that security forces arrested his family members on July 7, 2009.
The demonstrators, holding pictures of the detained people, demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan take action to release their family members. They said that their relatives were not involved in militant activities and neither were they associated with terrorist organisations.
The family said the eight men had neither been released nor had any criminal charges been filed against them.
He further said that a man from Katlang, Mardan district, who identified himself as Muhammad Khan, took Rs2 million as a bribe and assured them of the release of their family members. However, no action was taken after this.
Illegal police activity
In another demonstration, a woman said that Mardan City Police SHO Shah Mumtaz had illegally arrested her husband Gul Bacha and put him in a private jail. She said Mumtaz demanded Rs1 million for the release of her husband.
She demanded the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to take action against the SHO, who she said was involved in criminal activities. She also asked authorities to prove any criminal charges against her husband and requested that he is brought before a court of law.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.