ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed his principal secretary to quickly ascertain the exact status of the missing members of 13 Baloch families.
The prime minister, in a meeting with a three-member committee on Balochistan missing persons, representing the 13 families which had staged a sit-in last month, committed to updating them on the progress, Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari said on Twitter.
The prime minister also reiterated that the government would fast track its bill to criminalise the enforced disappearances besides amending whatever laws required.
Moreover, he also asked to keep him informed of the progress on the whereabouts of the missing Baloch family members.
The families of purportedly missing persons, who had gathered in a camp outside the National Press Club in Islamabad last month, had agreed to postpone their sit-in on the persuasion of minister for human rights.
At the time, Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) Chairman Nasrullah Baloch had said 13 families of the missing persons were with him and the list of 266 missing persons had been handed over to Mazari so their status could be ascertained and conveyed to the prime minister.
Baloch had hoped that the premier and Mazari would fulfil their demands and had said in case of failure, another protest in the capital would be staged till the recovery of missing persons.
Independent political observers had at the time expressed their belief that some missing persons may have joined militant groups, sponsored and trained by India, to promote insurgency in Balochistan, and not every person missing is attributable to the state.
The military in 2018 set up a special cell at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to resolve cases of missing persons.
In September, the ministry of the interior started reviewing a draft bill to criminalise enforced disappearances, with no deadline on when it will be finalised. Before that, it had been with the ministry of law and justice since January 2019 for “vetting”.
