ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to replace retired Justice Javed Iqbal as the chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, commonly known as the missing persons’ commission.

The matter was discussed in a federal cabinet meeting on Thursday chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

A participant of the meeting who did not wish to be named told Dawn the interior minister had presented a summary before the cabinet seeking a replacement for Mr Iqbal, who has also been appointed chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“The proposal said either the chairman of the missing persons’ commission should be removed or another member of the commission should be inducted to increase the total number of its members to four,” he said.

Mr Iqbal was appointed chairman of the judicial commission mandated to trace missing persons in September 2011.

He also headed the Abbottabad Commission that was formed to look into a United States Navy Seals operation in Abbottabad in 2011 in which the US captured Osama bin Laden.

The meeting made other decisions, including granting permission to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development to issue licenses to 54 overseas employment promoters to provide more opportunities to Pakistanis to work abroad.

The recommendation in this regard was made by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE).

The cabinet also approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Library of Pakistan and Cuba’s National Library Jose Marti to strengthen cooperation between the two libraries.

The meeting accorded approval for the signing of a tripartite MoU between the National Transport Research Centre of Pakistan, China Highway and Transportation Society and Second Highway Consultants Company of China to conduct a study on international transport technology standards and specification systems, especially in those countries along the Belt and Road routes whose Pakistan-China portion is called the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The cabinet approved the appointment of Lt Gen Sadiq Ali as chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board, as well as the appointment of Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar as National Institute of Electronics director general.

Published in Dawn, Aprill 13th, 2018