Nawaz to pursue Missing People's cases

LAHORE, Feb 2 (AP) Former premier Nawaz Sharif pledged Saturday to pursue the cases of hundreds of missing people and prosecute those responsible if his party wins the February 18 parliamentary elections. “No government agency or official has a mandate to keep people in illegal confinement,” Sharif told about 100 relatives of people missing and believed to be held illegally by intelligence agencies. “They are accountable for their misdeeds before the court of law.”

The relatives, including women, children and elderly men, held placards and portraits of their loved ones as they gathered in a tent in front of Sharif's residence in Lahore. Sharif told the relatives he was optimistic about his party’s chances in the February 18 balloting, after which all the judges removed by Musharraf would be returned to the bench. “The first thing would be restoration of the independent judiciary,” he said.

(Courtesy DAWN)