New Delhi (NVI): While Muslims celebrated Eid in various parts of the world, the families of Baloch missing persons staged a sit-in at Quetta press club in Pakistan, demanding the release of their loved ones.
The protesters which included the mothers, sisters and daughters of missing persons mourned and cried while holding the photographs of their loved ones who are missing for years. They have been appealing the Pakistan government for years to release their family members who have been lodged in jails and tortured.
These protests are held every year on the occasion of Eid. According to campaign groups, more than 40,000 Baloch are missing. Many of the missing persons have not been seen by their families for years, reports The Balochistan Post.
Enforced disappearances of Baloch people have remained a huge Human Rights concern in Pakistan. According to Amnesty International, enforced disappearances have been taking place for a long time and despite the pledges of successive governments to criminalize the practice, there has been slow movement on legislation while people continue to be forcibly picked up and made to disappear with impunity.
Amnesty International says the “Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has more than 2,178 cases unresolved as of now. As per the Commission’s recent monthly report, 48 cases disposed of in the month of January 2019, included 46 traced persons out of which 29 were returned home, 10 were traced to internment centers, five are in jails on terrorism charges and two were described as “dead bodies”.
The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance has more than 700 cases pending from Pakistan. The number of cases of victims of enforced disappearance recorded by victim groups is much higher.
Thousands of missing Baloch persons have also been killed under custody. Pakistan secretive agencies are believed to be the perpetrators of these crimes, according to a by The Balochistan Post.
-ARK
