IHC CJ says chief executive must be responsible for forced disappearances

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah has remarked that forced disappearance is tantamount to treason that warrants registration of a treason case against the culprit while saying it shows that government is inept if it has failed to stop the forced disappearance, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Chief Justice Minallah was hearing journalist Mudassar Naro and other missing persons’ case in Islamabad on Friday. 

The CJ remarked that forced disappearances in a country which was being run under a constitution were not acceptable. If the state institutions were not under the control of the executive, then executive would be responsible, adding that ‘why not the court will hold the chief executive responsible for the disappearances.” 

He observed that the forced disappearance evokes terrorism clauses maintaining that ‘it’s a treason’. 

The chief justice deplored that government was not even listening to the long protesting Baloch students. “If people go missing, it betrays state’s inability,” he added.

During the hearing, the additional attorney general told the court that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and other concerned departments tried hard to find the whereabouts of Mudassar Naro. A dead body was also found near the bank of River Kanhar. But it wasn’t that of Mudassar’s, he added. 

On this, the CJ asked was it not the failure of the state institutions to find Naro. 

He remarked that he hoped that after this case, the federal government would quiver. 

The AAG said that state was pursuing the case seriously. But the CJ asked him to show any progress if made in this case to the court. He said both federal and provincial governments were responsible to tackle the missing persons issue. “Nobody can go missing without their consent,” Justice Minallah remarked. 

Reporter Ehtisham Kiyani