The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), which is preparing recommendations for recovering missing persons, directed the Interior Ministry on Thursday to submit an elaborate report on the draft of National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta).
The Committee, which met with Senator Mian Raza Rabbani in the Chair, discussed various drafts submitted by the Standing Committee secretariat and members on the issue of missing persons, the formation of Nacta and internal security. After a closed-door meeting of the Committee, Main Raza Rabbani told reporters that the issue of missing person was very serious and no state could tolerate bodies of its citizens being dumped on roads.
The Committee had started chalking out draft recommendations on the issue, he said. All political parties represented in the Committee should submit their recommendation by May 28 for making them part of the final draft, he added. Rabbani said that after detailed deliberations, it had been decided that the committee secretariat would compile these drafts before next meeting. He added that after approval of the final draft, it would be sent to the government and the media for discussion.
Commenting on the exact number of missing persons, the Chairman said that there was no doubt about the number presented before the committee as well as the courts. He declined to give an exact number in this regard. Rabbani told another questioner that the issue could not be resolved in isolation and it would have to be examined in its entirety.
He said that the Standing Committee of Parliament on Human Rights had taken up this issue and it was working in accordance with its mandate. He said that the Ministry of Interior had been directed to submit the draft of anti-terrorism law, which had been submitted to the National Assembly after withdrawing it from the Senate. The ministry, he said, had also been asked to file latest comments on the law.
He said that the Committee had also called the Interior Ministry to give a detailed briefing about laws of various countries on terrorism, besides ordering it to submit a detailed report on Pata and Fata regulations. The ministry, he said, has also been asked about the latest status of implementation, as a number of courts had to be set up. He said the committee would meet on May 31 to discuss the legal systems of Britain, Indonesia, Canada and Sri Lanka for preparing recommendations for legislation. When his attention was drawn towards other parliamentary committees dealing with the issue of missing persons, he said the effort was not overlapping.