Legislation on 'missing persons' issue will be ready soon: Khawaja Asif
Supreme Court tells Defence Minister to recover 35 Baloch missing persons by Dec 2.
Newly appointed Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif. PHOTO: REUTERS.
KARACHI:
Newly appointed Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that the federal government would soon introduce laws on the 'missing persons' issue after a hearing at the Supreme Court's Karachi registry, Express News reported.
The court had earlier on Thursday ordered the federal government today to recover 35 Baloch missing persons by December 2.
Asif, as the Defence Minister, appeared before the four-member larger bench – headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – along with the attorney general and Balochistan leaders on Thursday at the Karachi registry of the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Asif said the apex court had warned the federal government that the SC would take action against the relevant authorities if the said 35 individuals were not produced by Monday morning.
While responding to questions, Khawaja Asif also said that the federal government had finalised several legislative drafts on the issue of missing persons, which will be turned into law very soon.
The Minister said it was the responsibility of the state to locate missing persons and that no one could be detained without due process of law.
Earlier, Asif told the court that during the short period of four months‚ the government was able to locate 738 missing persons and it would make every effort to locate others.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the progress of the case, the chief justice said people had pinned their hopes on the new government but the situation had not changed.
Quoting instances where many people were abducted with the help of helicopters, the larger bench stated that the name of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) keeps coming up in the case.
The bench further said that the Frontier Corps (FC) is responsible for the law and order situation in the province and asked the FC IG to appear before the court and explain the security situation.
Chief Justice Chaudhry also mentioned the group of relatives of Baloch missing persons that walked from Karachi to Quetta on foot and said it was embarrassing that women and children had to come all the way here to seek justice.
He said they will not leave until their relatives are recovered.
Newly appointed Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that the federal government would soon introduce laws on the 'missing persons' issue after a hearing at the Supreme Court's Karachi registry, Express News reported.
The court had earlier on Thursday ordered the federal government today to recover 35 Baloch missing persons by December 2.
Asif, as the Defence Minister, appeared before the four-member larger bench – headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – along with the attorney general and Balochistan leaders on Thursday at the Karachi registry of the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Asif said the apex court had warned the federal government that the SC would take action against the relevant authorities if the said 35 individuals were not produced by Monday morning.
While responding to questions, Khawaja Asif also said that the federal government had finalised several legislative drafts on the issue of missing persons, which will be turned into law very soon.
The Minister said it was the responsibility of the state to locate missing persons and that no one could be detained without due process of law.
Earlier, Asif told the court that during the short period of four months‚ the government was able to locate 738 missing persons and it would make every effort to locate others.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the progress of the case, the chief justice said people had pinned their hopes on the new government but the situation had not changed.
Quoting instances where many people were abducted with the help of helicopters, the larger bench stated that the name of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) keeps coming up in the case.
The bench further said that the Frontier Corps (FC) is responsible for the law and order situation in the province and asked the FC IG to appear before the court and explain the security situation.
Chief Justice Chaudhry also mentioned the group of relatives of Baloch missing persons that walked from Karachi to Quetta on foot and said it was embarrassing that women and children had to come all the way here to seek justice.
He said they will not leave until their relatives are recovered.