‘Balochistan situation worsening’

ISLAMABAD, April 13: Situation in Balochistan has deteriorated in the last one year with kidnapping of ordinary people continuing unabated.

Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club here on Wednesday at the conclusion of the 10-day protest camp in the federal capital, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMS) Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said the Supreme Court judge Justice Javed Iqbal assured relatives of the missing persons one year back that things would improve and the disappeared people would be recovered within one year. He said when the apex court was hearing the case last year, the relatives and friends of the missing persons from Balochistan had organised a camp in the federal capital but their efforts bore no fruit.

The protest camp was established outside the National Press Club by 23 people including men, women and children. The protesting Baloch people briefed media about how their relatives were abducted from homes, workplaces and from the streets.

Responding to a query as to why they had not done anything when the persons were being arrested Farzana Bibi, sister of kidnapped Baloch Students Organisation leader Zakir Majeed who was arrested from a friend’s house along with three others, said: “What do you do when men in uniform raid a house and arrest someone. But the main issue is that his arrest should be declared and all those arrested be produced in the court.”

Speaking on the occasion, VBMP Vice Chairman Qadeer Baloch said: “The families of the missing persons only want to know where their loved ones are,” adding that “they should be tried in the court if they have committed any crime.”

The VBMP representatives said their struggle would continue till all missing Baloch students and political activists were recovered.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/14/balochistan-situation-worsening.html