Families of missing persons end sit-in
ISLAMABAD: Families of people who disappeared in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province ended a 10-day sit-in near parliament in Islamabad on Saturday, ater a government minister promised to look into their relatives’ case files.
The dozens of protesters say there has never been a proper enquiry into the fate of their loved ones, who they allege were kidnapped by state security forces over the past 12 years.
The government’s stance has long been that the individuals had joined extremist groups and were either killed in fighting or still at large as fugitives.
“We want rule of law in this country, and an end to forced disappearances,” said Nasrullah Baloch, leader of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons organisation.
”Those missing should be brought to court of law and innocents be freed,” he said, adding that the government had assured him Prime Minister Imran Khan would meet a delegation from the group and give priority to the protesters’ relatives.
Rights groups say thousands of individuals have been forcibly disappeared in the region since a separatist insurgency began there a dozen years ago. The province borders Afghanistan in the country’s southwest and has its own majority ethnic group.
The families had come from the region and slept in the open near parliament, holding placards by day and braving cold weather by night.
Human Rights Minister Dr Shireern Mazari said the government was commited to stop enforced disappearances and was puting forward legislation to that effect.
In an unrelated development, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has remarked that lawyers can’t simply remain absent from the courts under the pretext of strikes.
The court observed that if a lawyer can’t come to court ater taking fee, then he commits professional dishonesty and the client can proceed against the lawyer for his loss. The observations were made by the court in a judgment on a case questioning the strikes of the lawyers.
The judgment said lawyers can’t justify their absence from courts for strikes. It said if a lawyer has submited the power of attorney on behalf of his client then he has no right to stay absent from court by justifying the strikes of any bar association because it’s professional dishonesty, and the client can take legal action against him for the loss.