The issue of enforced disappearances lingers on and the re­cent rally in Karachi shows the agony of people who are endlessly waiting for their loved ones to return home. The matter is pertinent, where enforced disappearances violate the fundamental human rights of people who are made to disap­pear. The implications are serious; as the number of days keep piling up so do the grievances of people against the system that denies them justice. Everyone deserves a due, lawful process that deems them either innocent or guilty. 

The stories of families of missing persons are heart-wrench­ing and call to question the state’s welfare role. Whenever these families come to sit peacefully and record their protest, it’s a re­minder that charges against missing persons must be lawfully presented in a court of law. Whatever evidence there is, it must be presented in a fair trial. Missing persons, largely from Balo­chistan, is a major aspect of the overall Baloch grievances and cannot be ignored at any cost. 

A state of constant despair, uncertainty, and anguish that runs in the family members of missing persons leaves them at the mercy of anti-state elements that can capitalise on their help­lessness. The gravity of the situation, hence, demands that the constitution and law must be upheldand the right to free and fair trial delivered. The issue is certainly not limited to just individu­als. Their families, women and children mostly, suffer the most. 

All the relevant authorities must ensure the safe recovery of missing persons. It is high time that this trend is brought to an end, and a legal process is adopted to punish those who are found involved in blatant violations of law and anti-state activ­ities. No citizen deserves to pay the price of a crime that is not proven to have been committed. The only way to restore peo­ple’s trust in the justice system of the country is by bringing the missing persons into the fair judicial process. This will be an only relief to their families who have already suffered a long and undue absence of their loved onse.