Missing persons: Treat their families with respect, says Sindh High Court

Judges order officials to pay families of missing men using Human Rights Revolving Fund.

KARACHI: The families of missing persons should not be made to run from pillar to post begging for financial assistance, which in the first place should have been provided by the state without the intervention of court.

This was observed by the Sindh High Court division bench, headed by chief justice Mushir Alam, as it ordered on Tuesday that the funds of the Human Rights Revolving Fund be made available to help the missing persons’ families without hurting their ego.

The court was hearing the petition filed by Advocate Nisar A Mujahid, the chairman of the Human Rights and Civil Liberties Society of Pakistan, seeking rehabilitation and financial aid of the dependents of the men allegedly picked up by law enforcement agencies on charges of terrorism.

Citing the state through several secretaries as well as the Sindh chief secretary as respondent, the petitioner stated that post 9/11, the US authorities picked up a large number of Al Qaeda suspects with the consent of the governments of different countries. “In Pakistan, while the matter was taken to court, neither the detainees were brought to the courts nor were their whereabouts disclosed.” he alleged.

The affected families have become isolated and are facing immense financial constraints. Even the non-governmental and social welfare organisations have backed out from helping them, the plaintiff added.

Mujahid appealed to the court to direct the respondents to take immediate action to assist the families and the children of all the missing persons and submit what they planned to do about them.

On Tuesday, the acting deputy director of the human rights ministry, Iqbal Pasha, told the court that an amendment has been proposed in the procedure to utilise the Human Rights Revolving Fund.

The fund was created primarily for the people affected by kidnapping, police encounter, rape, arrest of women, extrajudicial killings or torture. There was no provision for the welfare of the families of missing persons or those affected by violence, the official stated.

Disagreeing with his statement, the judges remarked: “These are merely administrative arrangements, which cannot be used to deny the constitutional rights or protection of a citizen.”

Adjourning the hearing for two weeks, the court ordered that the public functionaries should ensure that funds are made available in a respectable manner to such victims. The court also gave the officials two weeks time to come up with a solution as to how such assistance is to be provided to the families of the missing persons.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2012.