Federal Task Force on missing persons to meet on July 29

The Federal Task Force was formed to formulate a national policy to coordinate efforts of all stake holders.

ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of the Federal Task Force on missing persons will be held in the Ministry of Interior on July 29, 2013.

Senior officers of the provincial governments relating to the Home Departments, IGP’s, Chief Commissioner ICT and officials from the intelligence agencies, along with the representatives from Ministries of Law and Defence, will attend the meeting.

The issue of missing persons came to light in 2006 when the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo moto action in the case of the missing persons including Masood Janjua and others.

The number of cases in Supreme Court thereby increased and in 2010 a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court was constituted, which submitted its report on December 31, 2010.

The Second Commission was constituted in March, 2011 and was headed by former senior supreme court judge Justice Javed Iqbal.

In the last hearing held in Supreme Court on July 23, 2013, the Apex Court said that the government’s policy on missing persons should be furnished to the court as soon as possible.

The next hearing will be held on August 2.

The Federal Task Force on missing persons was recently constituted to formulate a national policy to monitor the progress and to coordinate the efforts of all stake holders working on the issue.

The Task Force is being headed by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and comprises of home secretaries of the four provinces, Additional Attorney General, Member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, Additional IG’s of the Special Branches of four provinces, Additional Chief Secretaries and others.