ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari has taken Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to task for raising the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.
In a tweet, the federal minister said Maryam Nawaz has just “discovered” the issue of enforced disappearances but did not realise that she was supporting an arrested terrorist. She said the issue was taboo and the previous PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) governments did not raise the issue.
Mazari said the incumbent government has broken the taboo and a bill is being vetted in parliament, while the federal government has formed a committee on the issue. She said the decades of silence and inaction on this issue have ended by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and now the Sharif and Bhutto “kids” can safely mention enforced disappearances.
We have taken up this issue – broken the taboo – have a bill being vetted – Cabinet has formed comm on issue. Decades of silence/inaction on this issue by PMLN & PPP govts has been ended by PTI. Taboo ended & Sharif & Bhutto-Zardari kids can safely mention enforced disappearances
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) October 26, 2020
PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz had raised the issue of enforced disappearances during her address to a political gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Quetta on Sunday.
He said the people of Balochistan were as dear to her as the people of Punjab. She said the time has come to change the fate of Pakistan and Balochistan. “No longer will husbands and brothers go missing, people of Balochistan,” she said.
She added that for the past 12 days, Baloch students had been protesting on roads seeking restoration of scholarships but the PTI government did not redress their grievances.
Raising the issue of missing persons, Maryam Nawaz said three brothers of a Baloch girl, Adeeba Qambrani, had been taken away from their home years ago but their whereabouts were still not known.
She said the girl showed her their photos complaining that the three siblings were the sole breadwinners of her family, adding that she could not control her emotions when the young Baloch girl narrated her ordeal. She said that those behind the enforced disappearances must realise the pain and suffering of the families.
She regretted the people of Balochistan had no right to make their decisions and a party is created overnight and its leader is installed as chief minister of the province. She recalled the killing of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Bugti, adding that she remembered the statement of a dictator who threatened to kill him.
