SHC annoyed by police lethargy in missing persons’ cases

The Sindh High Court expressed extreme displeasure over police and the head of a joint investigation team for showing no interest in locating the whereabouts of missing persons.

When dozens of missing persons’ petitions came up before the two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, the police officials turned up along with progress reports and said that they were still clueless about the alleged detainees. Many innocent Shia Muslim youths, notables and scholars have also been subjected to enforced disappearance.
The bench deplored that despite repeated directives, police officers were not making any progress in the cases while the correspondence between the investigating officers and senior police officers took months in such cases, adding that JIT sessions were apparently not going beyond photo sessions.
A focal person for the home department submitted a report of provincial task force (PTF) which stated that on the directive of the court, the PTF held its session last month to discuss the cases of Ahmed Minhas and some other missing persons in detail.
The JIT sessions were conducted in which the family members of the victims were also invited, but no progress was made, it added.
The report further said that the PTF directed the JIT head and the IOs to put extra efforts to trace out the detainees and also visit the prisons of Sindh in order to locate them.