THATTA: A day-long sit-in was held here on Sunday as part of the ongoing province-wide campaign for the recovery of missing activists, who have been unaccounted for since being allegedly picked up individually by law enforcers over the past few years.

Activists of various nationalist, political and social organisations took part in the sit-in held outside the local press club.

The participants earlier held a demonstration at the nearby section of the National Highway. It was led by activists of the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh (VMPS). Sassui Lohar, Aslam Khairpuri of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Arisar (JSQM-A) Ganhwer Zounr of the Awami Tehreek (AT), Natho Brohi of the Sindh Taraqqi-Pasand Party (STP) Sahir Palijo, Sadiq Lakho and other nationalist and civil society organisations participated in the protest.Speaking to the participants, Ms Lohar questioned claims of democracy flourishing in this country, arguing that people were being picked up for demanding their fundamental and other constitutional rights and never set free. She claimed that at least 60 political, nationalist and other activists had fallen victim to such enforced disappearances within the past 12 months alone. People were being denied their right to freedom of expression and voice of aggrieved citizens was being gagged as if the country was under martial law, she said.

She said neither the so-called democratic government nor the establishment ever heeded the desperate calls for the recovery of the activists missing for long. “Why they are not being produced in a court of law if they have committed any crime?” she asked.Like every other citizen, personnel of the law enforcement agencies were also supposed to abide by the country’s Constitution and laws. “They are supposed to produce a suspected offender in a court of law soon after the person is picked up,” she said.

She warned that the campaign for the recovery of missing activists would intensify if urgent action was not taken by the authorities concerned and the judiciary to provide relief to the affected families.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2018