PM Imran resurrects bill on missing persons

Prime Minister Imran Khan directed on Wednesday for expediting the process of bringing effective legislation in parliament regarding enforced disappearances as the families of the missing persons pray and search for their loved-ones endlessly in the absence of a proper mechanism.

In the post-cabinet press briefing, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that the prime minister has given clear instructions to activate a bill reportedly pending before the parliament for a couple of years, and devise a mechanism for resolving the issue.

The minister said that the prime minister, while explaining his point of view to the cabinet members, said that the issue of missing persons during the wave of terrorism in the past was somewhat understandable but with drastic fall in acts of terrorism, there could be no justification for such incidents.

Faraz said that Imran asked why shouldn’t the government go for a legislation through which a person could be detained for three, six, nine months or more, while emphasising that there should be a time-frame. “Half the peace comes when the families know that their loved-ones are alive and at a certain location,” he added.

Faraz said that the cabinet discussed the issue of missing persons after Dr Shireen Mazari brought members attention towards it. He said that Imran told the cabinet that he himself had attended several such sit-ins and expressed solidarity with the families of the missing persons in the past.

The minister said that the prime minister, while agreeing with Dr Mazari, directed Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem to bring legislation regarding missing persons issue, adding that the relatives of the missing persons have only one desire: to know if their loved-one is alive.

Expressing that the legislation is ready, Faraz said, Imran has given clear instructions to activate the bill and devise a mechanism for resolving the issue, adding that countries do face security issues but there should be a mechanism for dealing with it.

The prime minister’s directive comes days after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued an order on missing persons wherein it reportedly held the government and the prime minster responsible for these disappearance.

The cabinet reiterated that the government firmly believes in full transparency and the rule of law on the issue of enforced disappearances.

In the IHC order, Chief Justice Athar Minallah has stated: “The worthy prime minister and members of the federal cabinet would become responsible for failure on part of the state to protect the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of the citizens because the buck stops at the top.”

Justice Minallah stated: “Enforced disappearance is the most heinous crime and intolerable in a society governed under the Constitution”. He maintained: “Why in the instant case this court should not declare every prime minister and member of the cabinet responsible who has held the respective public offices from the date when the petitioner’s son went missing till his whereabouts have been traced or at least a satisfactory explanation is given for the latter’s absence.”

The court has sought a list of the prime ministers and members of the federal cabinet, who have held the offices from 2015 till the next date of hearing, from the attorney general, questioning why exemplary costs may not be imposed on those who may be declared responsible for the failure of the state to give a satisfactory explanation for disappearance of the petitioner’s son.

In the last cabinet meeting, the prime minister, while agreeing with the court order, had said that there should be no missing person in the country and that the government was responsible for any person who disappears.

Electronic voting

The federal cabinet expressed its resolve to hold the next general elections through electronic voting, while giving voting rights to the overseas Pakistanis. The cabinet tasked a committee led by President Dr Arif Alvi to work for introducing electronic voting system for the next general elections and devise a mechanism so that the overseas Pakistanis could exercise right to franchise.

Referring to the Electoral Reforms Committee formed in 2016-17, Faraz said that the PTI wanted to introduce electronic voting system but the then finance minister Ishaq Dar, who was the chairman of the committee, had ignored a presentation in this regard, back then.

“We are trying that the next general elections are held through electronic voting system and the overseas Pakistan can take part in it,” Faraz said. He added that the government was making efforts that all elections, including the general and Senate, should be held in a transparent manner.

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He said that the overseas Pakistanis were rendering great services for Pakistan, adding that they would be given the opportunity of electronic voting, so that they could participate in the polling process.

Criticising the opposition, Faraz said that the nation now knows who wanted the elections on the basis of merit and capability and who were in favour of continuing past’s practice of using money for winning elections.

During the cabinet meeting, Faraz said, the prime minister took strict notice of the increasing incidents of sexual crimes against women and children despite the passage of Zainab Alert Bill and issued directions to the authorities concerned to take measures to stop such incidents.

Among other things, Faraz said, the inheritance bill was meant to protect the legal rights of women and for getting the succession certificate, adding that under the new system, the heirs of a deceased person could get a succession certificate within 15 days.