Court deplores no progress being made in missing persons cases

The Sindh High Court expressed resentment over the absence of the provincial police officer in the cases of missing persons and warned to take stern action for overlooking its orders. Many Shia Muslims have also been among these missing people who are believed to have been subjected to enforced disappearance.

On May 15, the SHC had summoned inspector general of Sindh police A D Khawaja for not appointing a focal person for missing persons.
When dozens of missing persons’ petitions came up for hearing before the two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar on Wednesday, AIG (legal) informed the bench that the IG could not appear before the court as he was out of the city.
Justice Gorar expressed displeasure over the absence of the provincial police officer and warned that he would not tolerate disrespect of court, adding that stern action would be taken against the IG as well as the other law enforcement agencies if they failed to follow and enforce court orders.
The bench once again deplored that no progress was being made in the cases of missing persons since the police and other authorities concerned were filing identical progress reports on every hearing.
Justice Gorar also came down heavily on some police officers for filing old reports and making deceptive statements and said that the law enforcement agencies have to recover the missing men.
The bench directed the police to record the statements of petitioners, locate the whereabouts of missing persons and submit reports, adding that the home department, the joint investigation team (JIT) and the provincial task force must also take effective measures to trace out the relatives of petitioners. The court also issued notices to petitioners since most of them did not turn up on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the bench issued notices to the police, Rangers and other respondents on fresh petitions till June 27.