Families of missing Pakistanis stage demonstration

Relatives of missing Pakistanis have staged a fresh protest in the capital, calling on the government to secure their release from the custody of military-run intelligence agency, Press TV reports.

Clashes erupted between security forces and protesters in Islamabad earlier this week, with Pakistani forces firing tear gas to disperse people.

The protesters, however, promised to continue their demonstrations until Islamabad secure the release of the missing people.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged ahead of the country’s general election last year that he would secure the release of the missing nationals if he took office.

He said at the time that those who were behind kidnapping the Pakistani citizens should be exposed before the people.

This is while the victim families were brutalized as they started demonstrations against the military-run intelligence networks such as Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) months after Sharif came to power.

The protesters say the intelligence agencies are responsible for quote kidnapping, torturing and killing their relatives under the so-called war on terror.

The intelligence agencies have however refused to inform families about the whereabouts and charges against the missing people.

“More than ten years ago they picked up so many people and may be some of them are not in their control any more they have obtained dollars and bounties for them,” said Amina Masood Janjua, the head of the Defense of Human Rights group.

“They might not be detained in Pakistan they might be in Afghanistan or any of the CIA’s torture cells abroad. They might be in any of the warships which are stranding in the waters,” she added.