ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah said enforced disappearance is tantamount to treason that warrants registration of a treason case against those responsible.
The inaction over the notorious practice, which he lamented the government failed to end, shows the government is inept, the judge declared.
Balochistan, where militants have waged an insurgency against the state that has grown in profile as China develops mining there, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have long been plagued by enforced disappearances. Families say men are picked up by the security forces, disappear often for years, and are sometimes found dead, with no official explanation.
Security officials say many of the so-called disappeared have links to the militants. But actual court punishments have been rare.
Justice Minallah was hearing cases involving persons purportedly gone missing including journalist Mudassar Naaru, among others, on Friday.
The judge remarked that enforced disappearances in a country that is governed by a Constitution were not acceptable. If the state institutions were not under the control of the executive, then the executive would be held responsible, he said.
“Why should the court not hold the chief executive responsible for the disappearances.”
He observed that the disappearance evokes terrorism clauses maintaining “it amounts to treason”.
The chief justice deplored that the government was not even listening to the long protesting students from Balochistan. “If people go missing, it betrays the state’s inability to protect its subjects,” he added.
During the hearing, the additional attorney general (AAG) told the court that KP police and other concerned departments tried hard to find Naaru’s whereabouts.
A dead body was also found near the bank of Kunhar River. But it wasn’t his, he added. On this, the judge asked was it not the failure of the state institutions to find Naaru. He also expressed hope that after this case, the federal government would take action.
The AAG said the state was pursuing the case seriously. But the judge asked him to show any progress, if made, in this case. He said both federal and provincial governments were bound to resolve the issue.
THE CASE:
In August 2018, Naaru — a social activist and rights defender — went on vacation to the Kaghan Valley but has since been missing. He was last spotted near the Kaghan river.
Initially, his family and friends thought that he may have accidentally fallen into the river and drowned, but his body was never found. Others began speculating that Naaru may have killed himself — a claim instantly rejected by the family, saying he had no signs of despair.
His family subsequently tried to register a first information report (FIR) against “unidentified persons”. When the police refused to cooperate, they were forced to approach civil rights organisations but to no avail.
A few months following his disappearance, one of his friends claimed he had spotted Naaru at a detention centre for “missing persons”.
