Pakistan’s Supreme Court has expressed frustration over the long-running issue of missing persons, with Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail arguing that the government could have resolved the issue if it had wanted to.
The court was hearing a case related to missing persons when additional public prosecutor informed the court about the government’s decision to appoint Justice (retired) Fakir Muhammad Khokhar as the new head of the missing persons commission replacing Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal, Express News reported.
The Attorney General also mentioned that the government intends to establish a board for missing persons through new legislation.
In response, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar noted that such legislation would be necessary to establish the court.
The attorney general indicated that the cabinet committee was working on the legislative process and asked for a timeline to complete it.
However, Justice Mandokhail pointed out that the law already exists and says it is a criminal act to make someone disappear. He emphasized that if a crime had been committed, a trial should be held, and if no crime had been committed, the person should be released.
The court was told that the government wanted to deal with the issue of missing persons systematically, but Justice Mandokhail responded saying that if the government really wanted to solve the case, it would have already been dealt with.
Furthermore, Justice Hassan Rizvi questioned how many missing persons had been found by the commission and whether the persons who had been found disclosed their whereabouts.
The registrar of the Missing Persons Commission explained that those recovered do not reveal where they had been.
Justice Masarat Hilali called for new legislation to be passed specifically for missing persons, and Justice Mandokhail concluded by saying: “We can only hope that the government will solve the problem. We cannot ask Parliament to legislate on this matter.”
The court then adjourned the hearing indefinitely and left the case unresolved for the time being.
