Head of the inquiry commission on missing persons, Justice (r) Javed Iqbal on Saturday said foreign agencies, with well-organised networks and modern equipment, were making the situation in Balochistan worse.
Addressing a press conference, Iqbal said, “External involvement in the case of missing persons and in the worsening of the situation in the province cannot be ruled out as there is credible proof of the involvement of anti-Pakistan forces, who want to destabilise the country,” he said.
He said no state institution had a confirmed report regarding the number of missing persons, adding that baseless propaganda was being carried out regarding the number of missing persons in the country.
He said the number of missing persons in the country was 440 while 44 people had been recovered in the last three months with the efforts of the commission.
“Authorities have been unable to compile complete details of those on the list of missing persons in the past decade,” Iqbal said.
Justice (r) Iqbal, however, said according to the commission, the total number of missing persons was 460 that included 18 from Islamabad, 117 from Punjab, 174 from Sindh, 170 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 57 from Balochistan and 12 from Azad Kashmir and FATA each.
He said 42 bodies of the missing persons had been found in Balochistan.
The inquiry commission’s chief said the list also contained the names of those living abroad and also those who had been involved in terrorism-related cases.
Iqbal said the chief minister of Balochistan had sent a list of 945 ‘missing’ persons to the commission, however adding that the complete details of even 45 of the 945 people on the list had not been made available.
“We sent the list back to the ministry for correction but it never came back,” he said, asking, “Unless we are provided with complete details, how can we pursue the cases?”
The commission’s chief said in the past week 12 missing people had been recovered in Balochistan. He said some of the missing persons were in Afghanistan but they could not be recovered because they were in a US-controlled territory.
Iqbal said the federal government had taken the missing persons’ issue seriously but trust in state institutions was imperative in order to resolve it.
Expressing dismay over the attitude of those who had been released by the captives, Justice (r) Iqbal said no missing person was willing to talk about his abductors after being released.
“Lack of evidence is the major reason for the less number of convictions,” he said.
“I assure you that the commission does not believe in paper work alone and it is sincerely working for the mitigation of the sufferings of the victims’ families,” he said.