The Express Tribune
Published Date: Mar 6, 2014
Balochistan issue: Marchers seek recovery of missing persons
Participants of the long march from Balochistan have
demanded recovery of missing persons. They vowed to continue their
journey till the recovery of their relatives, expressing disappointment
over the response of the government and the courts.
The long march participants made this demand at a discussion jointly
organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Insani
Huqooq Ittehad (IHI) here on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mama Qadeer Baloch, who started the long
march under the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) banner from
Quetta four months ago and reached Islamabad on Saturday last, revealed
that they were being threatened to end their campaign. However, they
have decided to continue their journey.
The march also included people from Karachi and Hyderabad in search of their missing relatives.
Farzana Baloch, one of the women marchers, talked about her brother
Zakir Majeed, who has gone missing since June 2009. She said there were
many remote areas where people were unable to report about their missing
relatives.
She urged the civil society and media to conduct a survey about missing persons and expose all such cases.
Salma Jafar, a social activist, asked the human rights organizations
and civil society activists to join their struggle for justice and to
raise their voices. She claimed that 19,500 people are missing and the
government has taken no action in this regard.
Harris Khalique, writer and columnist demanded a political solution to Balochistan problem.