Missing persons’ case: Security agencies ‘not cooperating’ with top court

Chief justice says the court should not be compelled to order the arrest of FC personnel.

QUETTA:

The Supreme Court observed on Monday that the security agencies – including the paramilitary Frontier Corps – are not cooperating with the court in early and safe recovery of the missing persons.

A three-judge bench – headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – was hearing the missing persons’ case at the Supreme Court Quetta registry. At one stage during the hearing, Justice Chaudhry said the court could issue arrest warrants for those involved in enforced disappearances, extrajudicial arrests and detentions if the authorities concerned did not cooperate.

The bench had given FC Inspector General Ejaz Shahid a day for producing missing persons in court. “All citizens are equal before the law and everyone will have to remain within the bounds of the law of the land,” the chief justice remarked. Addressing the IG, he said the court should not be compelled to order the arrest of an FC officer.

The bench expressed dissatisfaction over the interior ministry’s report, saying that many reports had been presented since 2010, but results remained zero.



Additional Attorney General (AAG) Javed Shah Khawar assured the court that the government was making efforts to recover the missing persons. Cases such as that of Abdul Malik, a missing person from Nushki, would be taken by the government in all seriousness, he said.

However, Justice Khawaja, who was also on the bench, asked the law officer to talk about the present situation. The FC was given time but still it did not cooperate.

Justice Chaudhry remarked that he was aware that FC personnel were being killed but that did not mean they should whisk away people and keep them under unlawful confinement.

The chief justice also warned that the court knew how to implement its orders and said that he had many expectations from the government and its agencies but nothing was happening.

“The previous government was far better. At least it produced some results and some people were recovered,” Justice Chaudhry remarked.

When the AAG expressed his inability to offer any assurance on recovery of the missing persons, the chief justice remarked, “If you, the law officer, can’t summon anyone, inform us and we will summon them.”

In the case of Abdul Waheed Multani, the court summoned IGFC Shahid and asked him to produce the man in the court. Justice Khawaja told him that the court had given eight cases as a test for implementation but there was no progress on them.

The court also reprimanded the provincial additional secretary for not offering a satisfactory reply on the mutilated bodies being recovered from desolate places.

In Munir Mirwani’s case, his brother refused to name the person responsible for picking him up from Khuzdar and the court summoned the DIG and commissioner Kalat to appear before the court on Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2013.