The 'missing'

For a while the festering issue of enforced disappearances at the hands of security agencies has been under spotlight in the Supreme Court. While a protest camp has been set up by some of the 'missing' persons' relatives in Islamabad to seek the recovery of their near and dear ones amid strong media criticism of the sense of impunity with which the agencies operate. The court is hearing a case of 11 persons - bodies of four were abandoned, one by one, over the past few months near a Peshawar hospital - accused of the attack on the GHQ and an ISI camp. As a result of the mounting pressure, some of the disappeared have started returning home in different parts of the country, including Balochistan where the top-most issue fuelling the fires of insurgency is of enforced disappearances. And the finger of accusation is pointed at the security agencies. Addressing them the court observed on Thursday: "You are arsonists. You have set Balochistan on fire." The usual argument the security agencies employ in their defence is that terrorism suspects tend to get acquittals in courts because the witnesses are too scared to testify against them. The argument is now working in the reverse as well. According to press reports, the 'missing' who have returned home are refusing to answer the courts' questions as to who arrested them and who released them. An exasperated Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan said the other day, "they cry here for the recovery of their missing relatives but once those people reach home they sit quietly and refuse to assist the court." His frustration is understandable, but so is the fear of the affected persons. This atmosphere of fear and persecution must come to an end. And to ensure terrorism suspects get their due at least three measures are in order: first, a strong witness protection system; second, improved investigation techniques; and third, capacity building of the police to prepare cases that can stand scrutiny in a court of law. There is no place whatsoever for arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings in a civilised society. The case of the missing persons in Balochistan is an entirely different story. Those kept under illegal detention, some of whose mutilated bodies have been found dumped in different parts of the province, were not terrorists, but known political activists. Part of the blame for wanton abuse of Baloch people's rights lies with the federal government for looking the other way while Interior Minister Rehman Malik interjected from time to time on the side of the agencies to deny the disappearances. In fact, just last Wednesday, while claiming that the situation in Balochistan was better than the other provinces, he said that Chief Minister Aslam Raisani had sent him a list of 930 missing persons but that after investigation 'only' 48 persons were found missing. Few would believe his claim. Even if it is to be accepted for arguments sake, illegal detention and possible extra-judicial elimination of 48 persons is an outrage against humanity. The insurgency in Balochistan is a political problem that must be resolved through political means. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012