KARACHI: Families of missing persons belonging tothe Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) appealed to the prime minister, chiefjustice and other authorities on Saturday to ensure the safe recovery of theirloved ones as soon as possible.
According to the families, the missing relatives are in the custody oflaw enforcement agencies (LEAs).
Addressing the media at Karachi Press Club, the families of ShariqKamal, Ahmed Ali Baig, Farhaj Yaqoob, Farhan Hashmi and Kamran Qureshi claimedthat all of them were picked up by LEAs and were ‘forcibly disappeared’. Theirwhereabouts are unknown, the families added.
Kamal’s wife claimed her husband was arrested from his shop in ShahFaisal Colony on March 30, 2015. She said she approached the police, courts andother authorities but none of them informed her anything about her husband. “Ifhe has done something wrong, he should be presented in courts and prosecutedaccordingly,” she said, questioning which law permits such kind of enforceddisappearances.
“My husband is missing since the past two years. We have three childrenand they ask daily when their father will return home,” she sobbed. “Don’tpeople in the LEAs have relatives such as sons and brothers?”
Mother of Baig, an activist of All Pakistan Muttahida StudentsOrganisation, complained her son has been missing since December 30 last year.She claimed that LEAs picked up her son from a restaurant in Gulshan-e-Iqbalwhen he was having dinner with a friend after returning from university.
She said applications and petitions have been moved in the court andwith the LEAs but no outcome has come of it as yet. “The Supreme Court andSindh High Court chief justices, prime minister and army chief should takenotice of these disappearances and recover our loves ones,” she demanded.
Although the MQM has been divided in two groups of London and Pakistan,both the factions seem to be on the same page when it comes to the issue ofmissing persons. Leaders of the two factions have condemned and raised concernsover the cases of alleged enforced disappearances, urging authorities to takenotice of them.
On Friday, the MQM-Pakistan complained and raised concerns in astatement regarding the unclaimed arrest of three party workers, identified asMushtaq Ayub, Sarfaraz Akhtar and Zafar Khan.
Courtesy: The Express Tribune
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1339887/missing-persons-families-demand-govt-ensure-safe-return-loved-ones/