ISLAMABAD: The patience of the Supreme Court over non-production of missing person Yasin Shah finally snapped on Tuesday and it started dictating orders for issuing notices to the prime minister and the governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

But at the request of the attorney general, a three-judge bench gave the two governments another 24 hours to act on its previous orders in the missing persons’ case.

“We have started dictating orders for issuing notices to the chief executive of the federation (prime minister) and the governor and chief executive (chief minister) of KP to state their position why the orders passed by this court on Dec 10, 2013 and March 11, 2014 have not been complied with,” Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja said in the order.

The court had taken up the case of Yasin Shah on an application of his elder brother Muhabbat Shah.

On Dec 10, the court held that the army authorities were responsible for removing 35 internees from the Malakand internment centre. But only 12 of them were produced before the court.

The defence ministry has already moved a petition seeking review of the Dec 10 verdict. On Jan 18, the ministry pleaded that holding the army responsible for enforced disappearances would demoralise the troops engaged in combating terrorism in Swat and Malakand.

The petition also requested the court to expunge all findings, remarks and observations made against the army and its intelligence agencies in the verdict.

While hearing the case the Supreme Court had cautioned the two governments on March 11 of invoking contempt proceedings under Article 204 of the Constitution against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, KP Governor Shaukatullah and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

The court had directed the prime minister’s secretary Javed Aslam to bring to the notice of the premier non-compliance of its orders for production of the remaining missing persons. It had ordered KP Chief Secretary Mohammad Shahzad Arbab to inform the chief minister about the matter.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt informed the court that the federal government had appointed retied Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal as a one-man commission after retied Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan had declined to head it.

The commission will ascertain the whereabouts of unaccounted for persons from a list of 35 missing men, determine whether any person was detained or removed illegally and, if so, will identify the people responsible for any illegal detention or removal. It will make recommendations to the government for taking action in the light of its findings.

“The development is a mockery of the court’s orders. This has become an endless game,” the court regretted.

Sensing the mood of the court and to save the situation for the two chief executives, the attorney general requested the bench to give another four to five days so that concrete progress could be shown.

“Progress means production of Yasin Shah,” Justice Khawaja said. “We have to stand in the shoes of Muhabbat Shah whose brother was picked up.”

“I humbly request for little more time,” the attorney general said.

But the court reminded him that Tuesday was the 34th hearing and nothing concrete had come. “Get instructions from the government as we have reached the end of the tunnel,” Justice Khawaja asked the attorney general.

A game was being played with courts by the government, the judge regretted.

The court asked the attorney general to come prepared on Wednesday morning and show some progress on the matter.

At the outset, the attorney general informed the court that a fund with seed money of one million rupees had been set up exclusively for assisting needy complainants whose near and dear ones had gone missing but they were pursuing cases and appearing regularly before the court.

The apex court had suggested the creation of the fund on Jan 23 and said it should be kept with the office of the attorney general and used for subsistence of those family members who could not afford boarding and lodging in Islamabad.