Ikramullah had been missing since October 2023 from Farooqiya madrassa in Tajabad area
A Peshawar citizen missing since 2023 from a religious seminary has been found and reunited with his family, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Department said. According to a press release, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances held hearings on 22 petitions in KP.
Ikramullah, a citizen who had been missing since October 19, 2023, from Farooqiya madrassa in Tajabad area, was recovered through the commission’s efforts and presented before the court. He was subsequently handed over to his relatives.
The commission member for KP stated that cases of enforced disappearances will be dealt with at regular intervals. He noted that this is a problem that has caused suffering to thousands of families for years. This is an important step towards fairness, transparency and accountability, the statement added.
Which are missing persons
According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance (COIED), missing person means a person who has been picked up/captured by a law enforcement/intelligence agency working under civilian or military control in a manner contrary to the provisions of law.
The persons who disappeared in cases of kidnapping for ransom, personal enmity or on their own do not fall under the ambit of enforced disappearances, the commission noted.
The commission has settled 103 missing persons cases while also registering 11 new cases during the month of August 2025, according to its monthly report.
According to the commission’s data, COIED also disposed of 8,873 cases out of the total 10,618 cases received between March 2011 and August 2025. This works out to be 83.56% of the total cases.
The processing of 8,873 cases includes 6,809 persons whose whereabouts have been traced by the commission. The remaining 1,745 cases are under investigation in the Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Lahore registries of the Commission.
The commission has also successfully initiated hearings of missing persons cases through video link, saving time and expense for stakeholders as well as families traveling to and from Islamabad.
Commission set up to deal with cases of missing persons in KP
Last month, the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, Justice SM Atiq Shah, had stated that the federal government constituted a commission to deal with cases of missing persons and all such cases would be dealt with by it. Justice (retd) Afsar Shah has been officially notified as a member of the commission.
The remarks were made during the hearing of petitions seeking the recovery of missing persons. During the case, attorneys for the petitioners, the Assistant Solicitor General, the Additional Solicitor General and the Missing Persons Liaison appeared in court.
At the outset, the CJ noted that the Ministry of Home Affairs had confirmed the activation of the commission and its mandate to deal with cases involving agencies. The contact person also reiterated that all cases against agencies regarding enforced disappearances will now fall under the commission’s jurisdiction.
