The observation by the Supreme Court that the year 2011 will be the year of recovery of the missing persons will provide a ray of hope to hundreds of families waiting for disappeared relatives, some unaccounted for over more than five years. The remark came while the SC pondered over a suggestion by a judicial commission appointed last March to investigate complaints about missing persons. According to a report submitted by the deputy attorney general 134 persons had been traced by the commission. The commissions suggestions included setting up a permanent tribunal to deal with cases of the type and legislation to bring the functioning of spy agencies within the ambit of law. The apex court directed the federal government to submit a report over the implementation of measures suggested by the commission.
It is highly unusual that the top spy agencies are functioning without a proper charter from parliament. There is an urgent need for the enactment of a law clearly defining the sphere and spelling out the limitations of the major security agencies. This is primarily needed to ensure that there is no overlapping of functions or transgression into one anothers sphere and thus making the agencies more efficient. As things stand, there is a lot of parallel activity going on creating inter-organisational conflict while at the same time involving a waste of energy and resources. This said, the constitution already provides a citizen enough guarantees of freedom and security which cannot be violated by any agency of the state. Similarly, no citizen can be taken into custody in violation of the due process or kept in custody without getting properly remanded by a court of law. There is a need under the circumstances to fix the responsibility for disappearances and once this has been done to take action against whosoever is responsible. This is the most efficient way of stopping the recurrence of unlawful actions of the type. One can understand the agony of the families who do not even know if the missing relative is still alive. It becomes all the more tragic when the one happens to be the sole financial supporter. In case the apex court succeeds in its efforts to put an end to the tragedy, which has among other things added a new dimension to the sense of deprivation in Balochistan, it would help heal some of the wounds.