Govt to form body on ‘missing people’: minister

Interim Human Rights Minister Khalil George has claimed that a government committee was on the cards to look into the matter of missing people.

Recently, the Islamabad High Court summoned interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Nov 29 if he did not take steps for the recovery of 55 alleged missing Baloch students.

SC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani noted that it was not a case of a single person but 55 students were missing and that was the reason the matter was referred to the interim prime minister.

"The [interim] prime minister [Kakar] and the [caretaker] interior minister [Sarfraz Bugti] hail from Balochistan. They should have felt that this issue concerns Baloch students. Should we send this issue to the United Nations? Should we humiliate our own country?" the Justice Kayani asked.

He added that the court anticipated that the interim PM would acknowledge that the missing students were the country’s children, but that did not happen.

The Sindh High Court also indicated that it would summon Kakar if the police and the provincial administration were unable to make any progress in recovering the missing persons.

“The [caretaker] prime minister is planning [to form] a committee on missing persons with the [interim] interior minister and other ministers so the issue can be completely analysed,” George told a private TV news channel in an interview.

“Like where are the missing persons, how many there are, and what is their status,” he added.

The caretaker human rights minister said the finer details about the finalisation of the body were under way.

Read also: PM summoned in missing persons case

However, he added that the government believed the number of missing people was not as high as some claimed.

George maintained that the government was “thoroughly” looking into the issue and the committee would probe into the details of those who were missing.

He continued that the committee’s terms of reference (TORs) had not been drafted yet.

“Its (committee’s) mandate would be determined when this is done,” he added.

When asked if the body would actually be able to solve the issue of missing people, the caretaker minister replied that every committee formed “tried its best to discharge its responsibility”.

“Obviously, according to Pakistan’s laws, a citizen is the responsibility of the state and the state is well aware of this. Let’s see what the committee does. I have complete trust in the committee that it will do its job,” he added.

On Saturday night, interim PM Kakar spoke on the matter of the missing Baloch students. The caretaker premier said he would not be appearing before the IHC because of other commitments and the government would offer representation at the appropriate forum when possible.

He claimed that the state had no hand in these disappearances.

“Most of the times, the security forces pick up the people who are involved in activities which are against the law,” he said.