Nine ‘missing’ from Khuzdar not produced despite SC orders

A file photo of the Supreme Court of Pakistan building in Islamabad. Families of the missing persons have filed 62 applications in the Supreme Court for their recovery. All of them went missing while they were in Balochistan.—File Photo
QUETTA: Despite orders from the Supreme Court during the last hearing, police failed to produce nine people who had gone missing from Khuzdar during proceedings on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and comprising of Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervez resumed the hearing today of a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan at the Quetta registry of the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the chief justice had ordered police to produce 12 people who went missing from Quetta and Totak area of Khuzdar district. It had also warned that action would be taken against police, the Totak tehsildar and the deputy commissioner of Khuzdar if they failed to comply with the orders.
During today’s proceedings, Advocate General (AG) of Balochistan Amanullah Kanrani informed the court that a meeting had been held on Tuesday in this regard, and the Inspector-General (IG) of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) was also present there.
“People’s houses are burning and you are yet to be done with your meetings,” remarked Justice Khilji.
Already having expressing its displeasure earlier today at the authorities’ inability to produce the missing persons, the chief justice ordered that the nine men be presented by 11:30 am today. However, the authorities were unable to produce the people by the allotted time either.
The chief justice warned that the chief minister Balochistan may be summoned before the court if the police did not act as it was ordered to.
Moreover, in addition to the nine missing persons, the court also ordered the authorities to produce Abdul-Haq – who had gone missing from Shalkot – during proceedings on Thursday.
A woman had informed the court that security officials had picked up three people from a house in Shalkot area in April last year. They had been missing since then despite the registration of an FIR, she said.
Families of the missing persons have filed 62 applications in the Supreme Court for their recovery. All of them went missing while they were in Balochistan.