ISLAMABAD, June 12: After a break of over one month, relatives of the missing persons held a protest rally from National Press Club to Parade Avenue here on Tuesday.

Member National Assembly Abdul Qaqir Palijo of the PML-N also participated in the rally and assured the participants that his party would continue its struggle for recovery of the missing persons.

Chairperson of Defence of Human Rights Amina Masood Janjua said the protest was organised to revive the promise to continue struggle till the recovery of the last missing person. She said they set up a sit-in camp in the city for over two months after which over 500 missing persons were recovered.

She welcomed the statement of Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal, the head of the judicial commission on the missing persons, that within six months the issue of the missing persons would be resolved. “We hope that Justice Iqbal will ensure recovery of all the missing persons,” said Ms Janjua.

Some new faces were also seen among the protesters which showed that people were still going missing.

Touseef Hasan alleged that his father Zafar Iqbal, who worked as a charge man at the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF), was kidnapped on April 28, 2012. He said officials of FIU’s special wing took away his father from his house at Wah Cantt.

“We waited in the hope that my father will be back but after getting disappointed, I decided to participate in the protest,” he said.

Allah Hussain said his nephew Zinatullah was arrested by the police from Bannu on February 9, 2012, and he still remains untraced.

Omer Zada from Chakwal said his son Omer Hayat and nephew Omer Bakht used to work in a coalmine in Chakwal. In March 2010, two police officials in uniform along with two other persons in civilian dresses came and took them away. They told their families that both would be released within 24 hours.

Farman Ali said his brother Imran Khan went missing on October 13, 2009, from Mardan and since then the family has never heard of him.

Khalilullah said his nephew Meraj Mohammad went missing on September 16, 2009, from tehsil Lal Qila, Medan Bandah, and remained untraced.

Shirin Zada said his son Omer Ali and nephew Mohammad Zeb were arrested on September 23, 2008, from Swat and there was no clue to their whereabouts.