KARACHI: A group of activists on Sunday staged a sit-in in front of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) demanding early recovery of those forcibly disappeared across the country. The protesters, carrying placards and photos of their relatives and friends who have been forcibly disappeared, chanted slogans for their safe recovery. They said that some of their family members have been missing and they wanted their safe recovery. The protesters appealed to the higher authorities to take notice of the issue and ensure efforts for the recovery of all missing people. They said enforced disappearances was a national issue as people from all over the country and different ethnic backgrounds including Baloch, Pakhtuns, and Sindhis, were targets of this criminal practice. The protesters said that the mainstream political parties needed to take up the issue on parliamentary forums, urging politicians to not waste their and the nation’s time in sloganeering, and instead work for real issues of the people. They said no country could claim respect and dignity in the international comity of nations if it could not provide security to its citizens. They said that Lahore-based peace activist was forcibly disappeared in early December and the law enforcement authorities had yet to recover him and track down the criminals who were holding him in illegal detention. Separately, a march was held in solidarity with those struggling for their right to self determination in Indian-held Kashmir. The protesters were carrying placards calling Indian authorities to abide by international treaties and UN resolution on the matter. The protesters said that Kashmiris and Palestinians were struggling against two most brutal state machineries in the world. They called upon the governments across the world to unite in support of Kashmiris and Palestinians right to self-determination. They said that India and Israel should be boycotted to push the two countries to live in accordance with the norms of the civilised world. World must accept right to self determination of people in Kashmir–Sindh Governor. In his message issued on eve of Kashmir Day he said massive sacrifices rendered by the people of Kashmir must not go in vain and the dispute must be settled in accordance to the resolutions adopted by UN’s Security Council. In his statement on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, Sindh governor said, “Kashmir was rightly cited as the jugular vein of Pakistan by Quaid-e-Azam all the way back in 1946 due to its geographical, economic, political, and defence-related positioning.” Mentioning that significance of Kashmir for Pakistan has not changed in any way during the past 70 years, he regretted that Kashmir remained an unfinished agenda of the UN. He said hearts of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir beat together due to their unanimity in terms of religion, beliefs, culture and traditions. Reiterating that Pakistan and its people would always stand behind the people of Kashmir, Muhammad Zubair urged the international community to take notice of atrocities committed by Indian army in Kashmir and help implementation of UN resolutions that conform right to self determination of the people struggling for the cause for past 70 years. Published in Daily Times, February 5th 2018.