IHC CJ exhorts politicians to resolve real issues

Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked on Monday that state played no role in preventing the violations of fundamental rights and stressed that political leadership should come forward to address the real issues, beyond their personal differences.

During hearing of petitions against registration of cases across the country against journalists Arshad Sharif, Sami Ibrahim and Moeed Pirzada, the court sought suggestions from journalists' organizations for setting up a mechanism about the issues related to journalists.

The chief justice asked why whoever came to the government forgot the past. He stressed that the government should talk to journalists bodies in such cases. He said that earlier, the Baloch students were being beaten with sticks and even today they had no voice.

The chief justice noted that their problems could be resolved had the political leadership used half of the energy they employed in their fight for power. He added that the government should set up a mechanism to register complaint against a journalist at one place if there was an issue.

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The court sought suggestions from former Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) president Afzal Butt and High Court Journalists Association President Saqib Bashir for setting up such a mechanism, saying that order would be passed in light of those suggestions. The hearing was put off until Friday.

Enforced disappearances

A day ago, Chief Justice Minallah, in a 15-page order, had directed the federal government to serve notices on former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and the successive chief executives – the prime ministers – for following a “tacit approval of the policy regarding enforced disappearances”.

The order was issued in a case related to the disappearance of journalist Mudassar Mahmood Naro and five other people. The court instructed the heads of the government to explain how disappearances "became state policy".

Following the court order, the federal government constituted on Monday a seven-member committee to "deliberate on a policy" related to enforced disappearances in the country. The interior minister said that the committee would be headed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

According to a notification issued by the Interior Ministry, the committee members were Rana Sanaullah, Shazia Marri, Asad Mahmood, Israr Tareen, Faisal Ali Subzwari, and Agha Hassan Baloch. The committee would present its report to the federal cabinet for further deliberations, it added.