ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court said the issue of missing persons could be solved once and for all, if everyone works together closely and accepts his/ her responsibility.
“Let’s make Pakistan strong from within,” said the chief justice. “If it will be strong from within then nobody can touch it,” he added.
The chief justice, heading a three-judge bench, which also comprised Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, heard the petition of former senator Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan.
Aitzaz has challenged the illegal and unlawful practice of enforced disappearances, contending that “recently, there has been a surge of enforced disappearances and ‘re-appearances’ of citizens”. “Such victims include journalists, politicians, bureaucrats, and other dissenting voices,” he added.
Shoaib Shaheen, representing Aitzaz Ahsan, informed that the police in the federal capital used force against the peaceful Baloch students, who were protesting in Islamabad.
The chief justice said everyone has a right to protest peacefully. He asked the counsel to supply the list of missing persons and inform what kind of order the SC pass in the case.
Shaheen said Sheikh Rasheed, Farrukh Habib, Usman Dar, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Azam Swati, and many others were picked up, but later released.
The CJ remarked that “these are influential people, and why have not made them aggrieved party.” He inquired whether these people were willing to come to court and raise the matter of their disappearances. The chief justice told the counsel that they would not make the matter political.
Shaheen said that political leaders were “kidnapped” and forced to change their parties. “Are you upset that they left the PTI?” asked the CJP. “Should we tell them to come back to the PTI? We don’t have a solution to this.”
“There is an English phrase ‘if you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen you should not be in the kitchen’,” he remarked, adding those were things that could not be used for political purposes.
Shaheen then said that the matter of enforced disappearances in Balochistan had also been mentioned in the petition. He further recalled that a bill regarding the same presented by former human rights minister Shireen Mazari had “gone missing”.
“Was she a minister at that time? Did she tender her resignation?” Justice Faez asked. “The problem in Pakistan is that a person on a post does not take responsibility for their job. It is strange that a minister is saying her bill has disappeared.”
Justice Mazhar remarked that Mazari could have submitted the bill again. Justice Faez inquired about the process of sending a bill to the Senate from the National Assembly, noting that a “serious allegation” had been levelled against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
The CJP further noted that the incident occurred during the PTI government. “It is strange that a federal minister is saying that a bill went missing […] when a mistake is being made inside your own house, admit it,” he said, adding the “missing persons case has become a missing bill case”.
During the hearing, the case of anchorperson Imran Riaz, who had gone missing last year for over four months — was also brought up. However, the CJP asked why the cases of journalists, Matiullah Jan and Asad Ali Toor had not been mentioned in the petition.
“Did you talk to these journalists?” he inquired, to which, Shaheen said he had taken up “live issues”.
“Once you pick and choose, then we ask you questions,” CJP Faez said, recalling that the case of the aforementioned journalists had come up in court earlier and he was one of the judges who decided on that.
The lawyer stated that Dr Deen Muhammad Baloch, a Baloch physician and politician, had been missing for 14 years and his family had filed applications in both courts and with the police. However, there was no trace of him for years.
“Moreover, Baloch students have been subjected to short-term disappearances, being picked up, kept in secret detention facilities and released several days later,” Shaheen highlighted. He also claimed that there were “serious allegations” against the state in every third case of missing persons.
Justice Faez said when he was the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court, cases pertaining to missing persons were heard every Tuesday and recoveries were made.
“I am surprised that there was a sit-in in Islamabad, but there was no mention of it in the petition,” he noted, to which, Shaheen said the petition was filed before the protests took place. “You could have filed another petition, this way facts could have come before us,” the chief justice said.
The CJP also stated that a list should have been provided of missing persons, name-wise and date-wise. In his response, the lawyer said the inquiry commission had been made a respondent in the case and they would provide the report/details on missing persons.
Justice Faez asked if the members of the inquiry commission had been changed after it was first formed. “From 2011 to 2023, the commission has not been changed,” Shaheen replied, to which, the CJP promised to find a solution to the matter.
The chief justice said he wanted to look at the number of people missing since 2001. “You should provide year-wise data,” Justice Mazhar remarked.
Earlier, Shoaib Shaheen requested the Court to declare that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances “does not adequately comply with legal and international standards”. He said the commission had failed to adequately function and fulfil its responsibilities. “So far, over 2,200 people are still missing and there is no information about them,” he told the bench.
Justice Faez remarked that the formation of a commission was a good thing and asked if the petitioner wanted the body to be dismissed. The case was adjourned until today (Wednesday).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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