ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday at a hearing of the missing persons case, assuring the IHC to reunite the missing persons with their families.
“Missing persons will be reunited with their families, I assure you,” PM Shehbaz said.
The prime minister appeared to inform the court about the government’s steps toward addressing the missing persons issue.
“The court has troubled you as the case is about a major issue,” IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah said at the outset of the hearing, as PM Shehbaz Sharif walked to the rostrum.
The IHC chief justice remarked that the state is not responding as per its responsibility.
Justice Minallah regretted that the state’s response has not been corresponding with its responsibility.
“A chief executive ruled this country for nine years. He proudly wrote in his book that he sold his people abroad,” IHC CJ Minallah said in apparent reference to retired General Pervez Musharraf. It seems like it was probably the “state’s policy”, he said.
“The court considered it appropriate to tell you [premier] what the issue actually is. The commission was formed to address the issue of missing persons but the proceedings were hurtful,” the IHC chief justice said.
“If we speak of the Constitution, there cannot be a state within a state,” he continued.
He said that the court is a constitutional forum and not an investigation agency.
Justice Minallah noted that the matter was sent to the federal cabinet and that a committee had been formed but “this matter is not only about the formation of a committee”.
“This court felt it appropriate to tell you what the actual issue is,” he said to PM Shehbaz.
The chief justice said that the commission on missing persons that was formed, held proceedings, and “what came forth was very painful”.
People had been retrieved from detention facilities, according to Justice Minallah, “but no action was taken.”
He continued, “This impression undermines our national security, and the political leadership ought to address this issue.
