Demonstration in Srinagar to mark International Day of Disappeared Persons

Srinagar, Aug 31 (ANI): Kin of missing people staged a demonstration in Srinagar to mark International Day of Disappeared Persons.

Protestors, gathering under the banner of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), sat all day long with banners, placards and photographs, demanding whereabouts of their untraced relatives.

"Sons and husbands of many families are picked up by forces in the name of security and later no information is provided about them. They should reveal if they are in their custody or provide any information about their whereabouts and in what condition they are presently.

It is the duty of the government and if they found them innocent, they should be sent back to their families," said Vrinda Grover, Delhi-based Human Rights lawyer and an APDP activist.

APDP estimates around 10,000 people went missing, presumed kidnapped during the nearly two-decade-old separatist movement in Kashmir.

Activists appealed to chief Minister Omar Abdullah for an impartial probe into what they called as "involuntary disappearances."

"We appeal to Omar Abdullah to set up an independent commission," said Mir Hafizullah, APDP legal advisor.

"We have been protesting for last 19 years and it will go on till the time we are alive. We will continue to sit in protest until we get justice," said Parveena Ahanger, APDP Chairperson. (ANI)