The Supreme Court of Pakistan rejected a report by the inspector general of Frontier Corps (FC IG) regarding the missing persons issue, saying no progress had been made in resolving such a major issue.
During proceedings of the Balochistan law and order case at the apex court’s Quetta Registry on Monday, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry expressed anger over the failure of the FC IG to appear before the bench.
The chief justice asked the additional attorney general to inform the FC IG that the report regarding missing persons had not been accepted.
He said, “It is of no use for us to come here. What response will we give to relatives of missing persons?”
The CJP said the IG did not even appear in the last hearing and was absent again.
“If you do not want to cooperate with the court and honour our decision, we can just go home.”
“We do not want to see anyone’s face. We want the missing persons recovered. Forces should not be embarrassed, they are being blamed by everyone,” Chief Justice Chaudhry said.
“In the last hearing, you told the court that complete determination was expressed at a high-level meeting that missing persons would be recovered. Where are the missing persons?” the CJP questioned.
He also asked for those FC officers who had cases pending against them to appear in court, as only then they would hand over the missing persons.
Justice Jawad S Khawaja said the FC IG should attend critical meetings, but according to the schedule, he should have been present on September 16-17.
“We have not come here to listen to stories. The FC IG should come no matter where he is right now.”
The CJP also questioned where the interior secretary was.
To this, the attorney general told the court that the secretary had gone to Turkey with the PM.
The CJP said, “It is being felt that you people are not serious in running the state. There is no representative of the federal government present. We respect everyone, but everyone must do their duty.”
Justice Azmat Saeed said the officers were not aware of the cost associated with their non-serious attitude.
The CJP then asked the additional AGP to give in writing that the court’s orders would not be implemented.
“We come here to listen to people’s problems and our expenditure is bore by the government. Is there anyone who can tell us what is the use of us coming?”