Families of missing Baloch stage protest.

our correspondent
Karachi
Several women and children staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Friday to protest against the kidnapping of Baloch youths and the dumping of their bodies in different parts of the province.
The protesters demanded the recovery of all missing persons. This issue has garnered international attention, and numerous global human rights groups and statesmen have expressed concern for the missing persons of Balochistan.
The protest was organised by the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), a group campaigning against ‘forced’ disappearances. Senior Baloch activists were also present at the protest. The protesters displayed placards and banners condemning ‘forced’ disappearances of Baloch youths.
In a statement, Vice Chairman VBMP Abdul Qadeer Baloch said, “We have been receiving bodies of the missing persons [on a regular basis].” He said eight mutilated bodies have been found since the beginning of this year and as many as 360 mutilated bodies have been found so far in Balochistan.
He said that the law of the jungle prevailed in Balochistan and that the Baloch were being kidnapped by security agencies from their homes, schools, colleges and universities and were being kept in private jails. The captives were then brutally tortured and their mutilated bodies thrown in deserted areas.
Baloch said that the government’s commission to probe this issue was a “cruel joke”, and that it defied the international charter of human rights. He said the “contradictory statements” of rulers being published in newspapers were a testimony to the fact that the state wanted to extend its “kill and throw away” policy, which would eventually create a massive human crisis in the region. He regretted that the electronic media was not giving proper coverage to the rallies of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons. He said the protesters were being harassed by different means: sometimes they were threatened that the missing persons would be tortured if protests did not stop.
Baloch stated that though the family members of missing people were also under threat they were determined to continuing their protest. He also appealed to European Union, United Nations to pay heed to the violation of human rights in Balochistan.

 

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