SC inquires about progress: Missing persons commission has a week to file report

Affected families say body is not taking the issue seriously, lacks coordination.

ISLAMABAD: Despite the haloed semantics, judicial commissions may not always be a panacea – as the apex court learnt on Wednesday.

Dissatisfied at the inertia, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the judicial commission probing the missing persons’ case a week to submit a progress report.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Shakirullah Jan was hearing the case in which the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances had submitted an interim report.

The commission has not shown the progress expected from it, said Justice Jawad S Khwaja, adding that the court was concerned about its performance.

Justice Khwaja also questioned why the interior ministry was referred to in the missing persons’ case when it was the job of the Ministry of Human Rights to address the issue.

Busy or non-serious

The commission is working fine but the progress has slowed down because its chief, Justice Javed Iqbal, is also heading the Abbottabad Commission, said the body’s counsel Yasin Raja.

But there were testimonies otherwise.

Deputy Attorney General Dil Mohammad Alizai told the court that he was informed about the hearing just a day earlier. Human Rights Secretary Syed Alvi said he was informed 10 minutes prior to the hearing.

Families of some of the missing persons present at the hearing said the commission was not taking the issue ‘seriously’ and was largely inaccessible.

They also complained of a lack of coordination, saying the commission did not follow up on the proceedings properly and did not inform the families about progress in the cases.

The court was also informed by Defence of Human Rights Chairperson Amina Janjua that a few missing persons cases categorised as “chronic” were not taken up by the commission.

Janjua, who is also the wife of a missing person Masood Janjua, added that six people had died during detention.

The commission’s interim report revealed that out of 445 registered cases, 273 were still pending before it.

Janjua said she had “something important” to reveal to the court, but only if the bench agreed to hear her in the chambers. The bench asked her to write a letter instead since they wanted to keep the court’s proceedings open to public.

During the hearing, Pakistan Baitul Maal and Ministry of Human Rights were also questioned about the progress on compensating the heirs of the missing persons.

The court ordered both entities to submit detailed reports, and communicate if they had any financial restrictions in compensating the heirs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2012.