SC seeks details of ‘missing persons’ detained across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday sought details of missing persons currently being detained at internment centres operated by military and other intelligence agencies across the country.

A three-judge bench, chaired by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, gave the directions during the hearing of the missing persons’ cases.

The court said it wanted to know under which law such individuals had been detained in internment centres because the issue had become quite pressing now.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan asked the registrar of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) how does the commission decide whether a person has gone missing due to enforced disappearance or any other reason, to which the registrar responded that “we are provided reports by various agencies and institutions”.

The registrar added that the CIED has solved upto 3,219 cases, to which Justice Ejaz remarked that “your job might have concluded, but the court’s job has not finished yet.” To this end, the CIED representative said that “our job is only to find the missing persons”.

Earlier on March 27, the Supreme Court was displeased at the absence of a government law during the hearing of a missing persons’ case

“They suspend routine work to give priority to such cases by taking up petitions for securing the release of persons if they are in illegal detention,” said Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan.

This was observed by the judge as no law officer from the government’s side turned up in the court when the case was taken up. The bench then ordered the court’s assistant to call someone from the attorney general’s office.

Commission on Enforced Disappearance Head Justice (r) Javed Iqbal offered to brief the judges in their chambers on missing persons cases, particularly those from Balochistan.