ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Ministry of Law and Justice to finalise enforced disappearance law, as there is no justification for tolerating missing persons in present times, official sources told Business Recorder.
These directions were issued at a recent meeting of Federal Cabinet meeting with a summary of Ministry of Interior regarding directions of Islamabad High Court in few missing persons.
The Interior Division apprised the Cabinet that the Islamabad High Court, in response to a writ petition filed by Zainab Zaeem Khan, another writ petition filed by Professor Muhammad Sharif Chaudhry and yet another writ petition filed by Shah Munir versus Federation of Pakistan (missing persons cases) had imposed fines on the government functionaries besides initiating disciplinary proceedings against them.
The Islamabad High Court in its order of September 7, 2020 in response to the writ petition no 2407/2020 (missing persons case), directed Secretary, Ministry of Interior to place the orders of the Court before the Prime Minister and members of the Federal Cabinet.
The Federal Cabinet expressed its serious concern over the incidents of enforced disappearances and constituted a committee to deliberate on the reasons behind the enforced disappearances and give recommendations on how to control these incidents. The committee stood constituted on September 14, 2020.
Similarly, in the Writ Petition No. 06 / 2021 titled Sufiyan Saeed Dar (missing persons cases), the Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court directed to bring the matter into the notice of the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet. The Federal Cabinet, in its decision on January 12, 2021 had approved to assign the case to a Cabinet Committee already constituted. The Cabinet further directed Law & Justice Division to expedite the Bill on Enforced Disappearances.
Meanwhile, it had been reported in a section of the press that while hearing another case of missing person titled “Nasreen Begum versus Federation of Pakistan”, the Court had observed that the Prime Minister and members of Cabinet would become responsible for failure on part of State to protect constitutionally granted rights of citizens.
It was noted that the intra -court appeals against the orders of Islamabad High Court, imposing fines upon the government functionaries and initiating disciplinary proceedings against them in various writ petitions were filed.
These intra-court appeals came up for hearing on January 21, 2021 before a division bench of Islamabad High Court. The bench was apprised by the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) of the formation of the Cabinet Committee.
After hearing the AGP, the court suspended the orders of the single bench of the Court for imposition of fine on the government functionaries and initiating disciplinary proceedings against them. The court further directed that the Cabinet Committee may finalize its recommendations within a period of 06 weeks and submit its report to the Cabinet and the court.
The position was submitted for the information of the Federal Cabinet with the proposal that the Cabinet Committee may be requested to complete its work within the stipulated timeframe of 06 weeks given by the court.
During a discussion, the Prime Minister emphasized that there is no justification of tolerating missing persons in present times. He further said that every citizen of Pakistan has a right to live with respect and dignity, and directed the Law Ministry to finalize the enforced disappearances in the next meeting of CCLC.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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