Anti-govt protests held in Sindh on International day of the victims of Enforced disappearances

Updated:7 years, 2 months ago

Sujawal (Pakistan), Aug 31 (ANI): Massive anti-government protests were held across Sindh and other provinces of Pakistan as family members of missing persons demanded their early release on the International day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The day is observed throughout the world to draw attention to the crime of the state whereby individuals are picked up and kept in habeas corpus and incommunicado without any legal representation. Even after various protests against the state, the situation is still not considered a human rights issue. It is only recently that the courts have termed enforced disappearances a heinous crime. The exact number of missing persons in Pakistan is not yet known. From Sindh province, the organization compiling the list of missing persons, The Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh claims that since January 2016 to date, 196 persons were missing, out of them 26 were released after serving many months in the private detention centers of Rangers and other law enforcement agencies. The organization claims that during the year of 2018, a total number of 55 persons are missing. There were 1,532 pending cases with the Commission of Inquiries on Enforced Disappearances (CoIED) in the beginning of 2018 and 116 more cases were registered in February 2018 alone.