ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed a set of intra-court appeals (ICAs) of the federal government against the imposition of fine on senior officials for failing to recover ‘missing persons’.

A division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb was hearing the appeals against IHC’s single bench decisions in cases related to Sajid Mehmood, Umar Abdul­lah, journalist Mudassar Naaru and other missing persons.

The single bench had imposed fine on the defence and interior secretaries, Islamabad chief commissioner and police officers and also issued direction to the government to compensate the families of the missing persons on a regular basis.

As the matter came up for hearing, Additional Attorney General Barrister Munawar Iqbal Duggal appeared before the division bench.

Notice issued to AGP on plea seeking recovery of a man ‘missing’ for two decades

However, when asked if the government had succeeded in tracing the whereabouts of the missing persons, Mr Duggal replied in the negative and sought further time from the court.

Irked by the response, Chief Justice Farooq remarked that the persons had been missing for several years and the government still required further time to trace them. “What the court can do is to double the fine, or we summon the prime minister,” he said.

At successive hearings, Justice Aurangzeb said, the government had been repeatedly seeking time from the court but “doing nothing”.

The chief justice wondered if the government was waiting for “some miracle”.

The Commission of In­­quiry on Enforced Disap­pearances seems to be a burden on the exchequer, as it had apparently failed to recover the missing persons, the judge remarked.

However, Barrister Duggal replied that the commission had disposed of 7,500 out of 10,500 complaints.

At this, Iman Mazari, counsel for Naaru’s mother, said the commission even “counted the bodies” of the missing persons in its progress report.

Justice Aurangzeb ruled that the bench was dismissing the intra-court appeals, though the federal government was at liberty to approach the Supreme Court.

Abbottabad case

Separately, a single bench of the high court issued a notice to the Attorney General for Pakistan on a petition seeking recovery of Ateequr Rehman, who went missing from Abbottabad in 2004.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb was earlier apprised that Mr Rehman’s heir had filed a complaint before the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, and an intelligence agency admitted his custody, yet the commission did not issue his production order.

“Where the relative would go then, would they seek relief from the International Court of Justice?” the judge remarked, while issuing notice to the attorney general to know government response on the matter.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024