• Commission’s report to SC reveals highest number of disappearances reported from KP, then Balochistan
• Claims some missing persons may have been killed in drone attacks, migrated without informing families
ISLAMABAD: Only seven per cent of the production orders for missing people issued by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances have been implemented, a report submitted by the body to the Supreme Court revealed on Tuesday, even though the commission consumes at least Rs2.2 million in monthly salaries alone.
The commission’s report came in response to Jan 3 directions by the top court in which a three-judge bench — consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali — decided to ascertain facts from the commission.
The judges were hearing the case on enforced disappearances on a petition filed by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.
The report said that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has issued 744 production orders, of which 52 have been implemented by the addresses. The remaining 692 production orders were yet to be executed by the quarters concerned.
The province-wise details of the cases in which the production orders were issued but not implemented indicate that 503 (73 per cent) out of 692 cases pertains to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, “which obviously appeared to be due to decade-long insurgency and war-like situation in the province, coupled with deaths of unknown people in drone attacks and migration to other countries without informing their families”.
The commission also received 182 petitions from the quarter’s concerned request for review of the production orders in these cases.
Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered the commission to collate and submit the names with parentage and addresses of those who went missing, the name and relationship of the person who reported the missing person, the date they went missing, [and] those who were in government in the federation and the concerned province at that time.
It also directed the commission to report whether the missing person was recovered or not, and if not recovered, detail the measures, if any, taken to find out the whereabouts of the missing person.
“In addition, all those in respect of whom production orders were issued but were not produced, and what was the follow-up by the Commission when its production orders were not complied with,” the court order said.
The commission’s report also disclosed that it has a disposal rate of over 77pc, with 7,781 of the 10,078 missing persons’ cases disposed of.
The commission’s report said that 1,365 out of 1,625 cases have been disposed of from Punjab, whereas 1,624 out of 1,787 cases have been disposed of from Sindh.
Similarly, 2,149 of 3,485 cases have been disposed of in KP, 2,284 out of 2,752 in Balochistan, 306 out of 361 in Islamabad, and 53 cases out of 68 have been disposed of in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Chairman not withdrawing salary’
The report shows that the four members of the Commission of Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances have been allocated salaries of over Rs2.9m per month.
However, the Supreme Court was also informed that Javed Iqbal, the commission’s chairman, did not receive his monthly salary of Rs674,000 for five years, as he was also consecutively serving as the head of the National Accountability Bureau thus saving the national exchequer Rs50m.
The other three members of the commission are former judges Justice Zia Pervaiz and Justice Amanullah Khan, and former IGP Muhammad Sharif Virk, who have been drawing monthly salaries of Rs829,000, Rs1.14m and Rs263,326, respectively.
Mr Iqbal was appointed to the commission in September 2011, Mr Pervaiz in July 2021, Mr Khan in December 2023, and Mr Virk in March 2011.
Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024
