Pakistan Bar Council slams kidnapping of Baloch people by agencies

Islamabad, Feb 19 (ANI): The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has adopted on Saturday a hard-hitting resolution condemning the unabated kidnapping of people in Balochistan allegedly by the intelligence agencies.

"This house condemns the abduction of the citizens of Pakistan by the government and its intelligence agencies and for keeping such persons missing and untraced against the due process of law," The Dawn quoted the resolution adopted at the 192nd meeting of the PBC, as saying.

Following a resolution introduced in the US House of Representatives seeking the right of self-determination to the people of Balochistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has already hinted at calling an all-parties conference on Balochistan to take into confidence the people of all shades for resolving the troublesome crisis in the province.

The Supreme Court is already seized with a petition filed by former president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association Hadi Shakeel against the deteriorating law and order situation in the province in addition to old cases of missing persons who were picked from different parts of the country by intelligence agencies over the past few years.

The families of missing persons have set up a protest camp on Parade Avenue in Islamabad in protest against the kidnapping.

The resolution condemned the torture of missing persons admittedly in the custody of intelligence agencies in a callous manner.

The meeting, however, expressed confidence that the judiciary would deal with the matter strictly and award exemplary punishment to the people responsible for the torture. It also condemned mysterious deaths and murders of the abducted persons found dead in different parts of Balochistan. (ANI)