Court seeks complete list of missing persons

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday asked its office to compile a list of missing persons and send it to the Interior secretary, Home secretary, the IGP Sindh and the detention centres in order to trace their whereabouts.

A two-member SHC bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, expressed anger at the non-recovery of the missing persons as several family members of the victims broke down in the newsrooms

"The issue of enforced disappearances is the issue of basic rights. Many petitions on this issue are pending in the Sindh High Court," Justice Phulpoto remarked. "We want to know how many missing persons are in detention centres."

Relatives of missing person Abdul Rehman told the court that Rehman was picked up from Lyari in 2015. They said that Rehman was old and had no links to criminals.

The senior superintendent of police for investigation informed the bench that as many as 20 joint investigation teams (JITs) have so far conducted probes. "We are waiting for reports from the Interior secretary," he further stated. "We will submit a report in the court after we receive details of the detention centres."

The hearing was adjourned until April 27.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2023.