Enraged at the failure of law enforcement agencies, the chief justice directed the Balochistan police chief to arrest provincial ministers allegedly involved in incidents of kidnapping for ransom in Quetta.
The apex court also ordered Balochistan Police and Levies to register FIRs on recovery of bullet-riddled bodies in the province, launch thorough investigations into the killings, and compensate affected families.
Criticising the police and other law enforcement agencies for their failure to maintain public order, the apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said that people are now scared of travelling to rural Balochistan.
The bench was hearing a case regarding the deteriorating law and order in the country’s largest province.
Arresting ministers
The police submitted the statement of the home minister to the bench, wherein he alleged that provincial Cabinet ministers are involved in kidnappings for ransom. While the names of ministers were not included in the statement, the police chief said that the home minister informed Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani about it.
The court directed the Inspector General Police to collect Home Minister Zafar Zehri’s statements and proceed to take action against ministers involved, without any pressure.
“You should have registered the cases and arrested the ministers involved in kidnappings when the home minister publicly admitted that ministers are involved,” the chief justice said.
“Show some courage now and take action against them,” he added.
The court added though that the home minister could be disqualified if his statement turned out to be incorrect.
Missing persons
The court directed officials to recover five kidnapped officials of the Balochistan Rural Support Program, a Hindu doctor, Rajesh Kumar, and other kidnapped people.
Relatives of missing persons recorded their statements before the bench.
They accused the Frontier Corps (FC) and security agencies of whisking away their family members and keeping them in illegal detention.
The chief Justice lashed out at police officials when the daughter of Balakh Sher Marri informed the bench that her father, along with 10 other members of family, was whisked away by armed men in uniform during a raid at her residence on March 1.
“Three men were released after a few days but my father and six other men are still in the custody of security forces,” the girl said.
The bench directed the IG, DIG investigations and DIG operations to recover all seven persons and produce them before the court by Friday (today).
“I will suspend the IG police and other senior police officials if they will not bring these seven men,” the chief justice said.
Police officials requested for more time to investigate this case but the bench declined their request.
The bench directed the attorney-general, and the federal and provincial governments, to submit details of the missing persons including their exact numbers and the efforts made by the government for their recovery.
The court directed the provincial government to register cases, launch investigations, submit charge-sheets to court and compensate families of victims whose bodies were found across Balochistan.
The court also suggested that legislation be enacted about missing persons, like the one in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal belt.
“At least the families should be informed that their relatives are in the custody of any government functionaries and are being interrogated,” the chief justice said.
The court also grilled the police over rising incidents of sectarian targeted killings.
“There was no sectarian violence in Balochistan at all a few years ago. But now no one can go in interior Balochistan out of fear of being killed or kidnapped,” the bench observed.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.
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