Out of the 54 missing, 25 are from MQM

Ten families of the victims gave their statements to a commission at its hearing on Monday.

KARACHI:

The judicial commission set up by the government to look into the cases of enforced disappearances throughout Pakistan set up shop in Karachi on Monday.

While its head, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal was not present, the commission was led by its member Sharif Virk, a former inspector-general of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There are 54 cases of enforced disappearances in Sindh, of which 25 are of members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Ten families of the victims gave their statements to the commission at its hearing on Monday, and more are expected to do so on Tuesday. The commission will be recording statements until March 3.

The commission was told that three of the missing have been recovered – Haji Saifuddin Marri  from Surjani Town, Asif Ahmed Kidvai from Steel Town and Iftikhar Hussain Chandio, from Quetta.

The commission was also told that the body of one victim, Tariq Kareem, was found from Quetta.  Adeela Osaid, the wife of an alleged victim of enforced disappearances, said the families felt “insecure” going to the commission because of a weakness she highlighted. “They are all retired officers of the same institutions that we have named in the abductions. How can they solve our case?”

Adeela was reportedly told by Virk that her husband “had disappeared himself” (“khud hi ghayab ho gaye honge”, a statement she found incredulous after struggling for his release for one and a half year.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2012.