Balochistan unrest: Three more missing persons recovered

Chief justice had given police 24 hours to find missing men.

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD:

Three more missing persons were recovered in Quetta late on Monday night.

People close to relatives of Akhtar Lango, Doctor Naseer and Hafeez Rodini confirmed their arrival. The men went missing from Killi Ismail area of Quetta on April 1 and their whereabouts were unknown ever since. Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP), an organisation striving for the recovery of missing persons, also confirmed the recovery of three missing persons. Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court had given the police 24 hours to produce the missing persons before the court.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had said police officials were reluctant to contact authorities concerned for the recovery of missing persons.

Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kinrani had told the court that due to an important meeting in Islamabad, the police was unable to contact relevant quarters (ISI, MI) for the recovery of missing persons.

The court has also sought a report on the number of people gunned down in Balochistan over the past three years.

The court was dissatisfied by the police’s conduct and said that more than 24 people have been killed in recent days, but no one was there to control the situation. Justice Chaudhry said that even the prime minister had not taken necessary steps to control the problem despite the fact that the court had ordered him to do so.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry while hearing the case of deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan directed had directed the police to recover the three persons went missing from Killi Ismail.

Chief Justice also warned that he will suspend the Superintendent of Police and concerned officials if they failed to recovery the missing people.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2012.