ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the federation to legislate about the enforced disappearances throughout the country and ensure promulgation of this legislation in its true letter and spirit.
The directions were made by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry while announcing judgment in the 35 missing persons case from a detention center at Malakand in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
While disposing of the petition, the apex court declared that though there was a law regarding the disappeared persons in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), however there was dire need to legislate in that regard in rest of the provinces and remaining areas of KPK.
The apex court remarked that out of 35 missing persons, the military authorities only presented 7 before the court which was not encouraging.
Chief executives as well as provincial chief executives and government of KPK were directed to proceed with this case and present report before the Registrar office for the Judges perusal.
The court also directed to deal strictly and according to the law against those responsible who were involved in this whole issue.
Earlier, during the course of proceeding, the court noticed that there were 721 cases of missing persons in the Supreme Court and all the high courts of the country.
It was observed that there was dire need for the legislation as no agency or police could keep any person in its custody for a longer time without intimating their families.
The court was of the view that no agency could take any step that violates or abrogates Article 10 of the Constitution.
However, the court observed that the issue of the missing persons needed to be dealt expeditiously and on merit and if the agencies or police needed to investigate against any person they should not ignore constitution during the whole process.
It is pertinent to mention here that the apex court had been pursuing the issue of 35 missing persons from a detainee center at Malakand and due to the repeated directions by the court the federation produced 7 persons before the court and provided information about 3 others.
Comments
Comments are closed.