ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed commission on enforced disappearances claimed on Monday that it had resolved 27 missing person cases last month, saying that most of these persons were found detained at various “internment centres” in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The figures, released by the two-member Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, headed by retired Justice Javed Iqbal, revealed that the number of missing people had been increasing constantly — 1,846 cases had come to light since Jan 1, 2011, the day the commission started its work.
According to the list of traced persons, six are detained at an internment centre in Lakki Marwat, four in Kohat and five in two internment centres in Swat Valley, from where most of the persons have gone missing. Six persons have returned home on their own while one named Hafiz Hassan Akbar, son of Muhammad Akbar Shah, is in “judicial custody”.
The official announcement, however, is silent about the reasons and charges for which these people have been kept at the internment centres. It is also not clear whether these centres are being run by the military or civilian authorities. There is also no answer to two key questions — who had picked them up and who disclosed their whereabouts.
The commission, however, reiterated its “commitment and determination to make all-out efforts to trace the missing persons”.
Former IG Muhammad Sharif Virk is the other member of the commission.
The commission said there were 138 missing person cases pending before it on Jan 1, 2011, and since then it had received 1,846 new cases, bringing the total to 1,984.
The announcement comes one week after a police action against the protesting relatives of missing persons in Islamabad and registration of cases against 300 people for allegedly holding an “unlawful” rally and “attacking” security personnel.
The commission, constituted on the directives of the apex court four years ago, has so far disposed of 657 cases, according to the announcement. The commission said it had succeeded in tracing 27 persons last month when it held its proceedings in Islamabad. Four of the 27 cases do not relate to the “missing persons” — the term used in the country after former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf declared his support to the US-led “war against terror” after the 9/11 attacks.
Relatives and families of the missing persons accuse intelligence and security agencies of picking up these people for their alleged links with terrorist organisations. The cases of missing persons have mostly been reported from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas.
The persons who have been traced are: Sharifzada s/o Bakhtzada; Fazal Subhan s/o Muhammad Yousuf; Mian Syed Azim s/o Mian Syed Jaffar; Tahir Ali s/o Said Nabi; Azam Din s/o Pir Zadin and Noor Hadi s/o Bacha Khan (Lakki Marwat interment centre); Sabir Ali s/o Wazir Zada; Yousuf Shah s/o Khadim; Asghar Muhammad s/o Muhabbat Khan and Kamal Ahmed s/o Ahmed Khan (Kohat); Barkat Khan s/o Barkat Zarin; Imtiaz s/o Abdul Ghaffar and Attaullah s/o Sultanat Khan (Paithom, Swat Valley); Muhammad Zarmeen s/o Muhammad Zareen and Zafar Ali s/o Muhammad Zubair (Fizagat, Swat Valley).
The six persons who have returned home are: Zareef Khan s/o Adam Khan; Khubabur Rehman s/o Kamal Rehman; Sher Muhammad s/o Rafiqul Bari; Muhammad Amir Iqbal s/o Abdul Ghaffar Khan; Karim Khan s/o Unknown and Khaista Rehman s/o Rasool Muhammad.
