The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday expressed displeasure over the failure of the government to take concrete steps for the recovery of missing persons and said the prime minister can be summoned to court if action is not taken.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, while hearing a petition regarding missing persons including Mudassar Naaru and others, said if the government does not address enforced disappearances then the prime minister will have to present himself before the court on September 9.
The deputy attorney general admitted that “things are not the way they should be” but assured that the cabinet committee will adequately address the matter and added that the “agencies were under the control of the federal government”.
It is pertinent to note that on June 23, the IHC had lashed out at the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances over its failure to recover missing persons as it observed that the commission had failed to fulfil its responsibility.
Chief Justice Minallah observed that the commission had failed to fulfil its responsibility — during the hearing of a case pertaining to the recovery of Zahid Amin, who has been missing for eight years, and Sadiq Amin, who disappeared a year ago.