Reunite missing persons with their families

Defence of Human Rights director says govt has turned a deaf ear to the demands of rights organisations

FAISALABAD: Human rights organisations have been demanding recovery of missing persons for years, Defence of Human Rights executive director Amina Masood Janjua said at a demonstration on Tuesday. “Our demands have fallen on deaf ears.”

Scores of members of the Defence of Human Rights participated in a demonstration to demand the recovery of missing persons. They were joined by the children, wives and relatives of missing persons. They held up portraits of their missing relatives, banners and placards. The participants later held a sit-in at Zila Council Chowk. Traffic on University Road remained blocked for hours because of the demonstration.

Janjua said they had information about 25 people in Faisalabad who had been picked up for quite some time. “There is no discussion about this issue in the government’s top echelons…they have deliberately ignored the plight of the families of those picked up.”

In many cases, these people were the sole bread earners of their families, she said. The Defence of Human Rights has initiated a struggle on the behalf of such families, said Janjua.

She appealed to the government to take cognisance of the situation and recover missing persons at the earliest. If the government has picked up these people, their families deserve to know, she said. “We will continue our protest till they are reunited with their families.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2015.