The Ministry of Interior (MoI) and Sindh government are at loggerheads over the number of missing persons, Business Recorder learnt on Saturday. According to sources, a few months back, the Supreme Court had directed the federal government to trace out 416 people who were allegedly picked up by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) from various parts of the country.
Complying with the apex court's orders, the MoI had asked the home departments of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and NWFP to locate people who had gone missing since 2003 at the earliest as the families of these people were worried about their lives of their beloved ones, sources said.
They said that in October 2009, the MoI had forwarded a list of 16 people to Sindh home department for action. The list also contained names of such people who were recovered and were moving freely in the province such as nationalist leader of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Dr Safdar Sarki and a Karachi resident Zeeshan Jalil who was imprisoned in Adiala Jail, they added. The National Crises Management Cell (NCMC), Islamabad had prepared the list of the missing persons and handed it over to the MoI.
However, the MoI again forwarded another list of missing persons of belonging to Sindh and it was shocking for the provincial home department officials and the law enforcement agencies as the number of these people according to the list stood at 54, sources said.
In reaction to such mistake by the higher authorities and ensuring strict compliance with the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Sindh Home Secretary Arif Hussain Khan wrote a letter to the MoI pointing at the apathy of the authorities concerned. Moreover, the home department requested the MoI and NCMC to forward a fresh verified and based on accurateness list so that early recovery of the missing persons could be ensured soon, sources said.
Comments
Comments are closed.