ISLAMABAD: The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday that the federal government has appointed former Supre­­me Court judge Faqir Mu­­hammad Khokhar as the new chairman of the Com­mission of Inquiry on Enf­orced Disappearance (CIED) in place of Javed Iqbal.

The information was shared before the six-judge constitutional ben­ch by Additional Attorney General (AAG) Malik Javed Iqbal Wainse.

Headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, the constitutional bench had taken up the long emotive issue of missing persons.

Justice Iqbal, who also headed the commission set up on the US operation in Abbottabad in 2011 in which Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was killed, was appointed the chairman of the commission in September 2011.

Justice Mandokhail calls enforced disappearances a crime, urges trial for the guilty

During the hearing, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail while expressing frustration observed that the government could have resolved the chronic issue of the missing persons had it a will to do so.

During the last hearing of the case of missing persons, Justice Mandokhail had observed that only parliament has the solution to settle the unlawful practice of enforced disappearances of citizens.

The AAG outlined the government’s intention of establishing a missing persons’ tribunal through a new legislation in case CIED failed to function in a satisfactory manner.

At this Justice Muham­mad Ali wondered how long will this legislative process take. The AAG explained that the cabinet committee was already working on the law.

Justice Mandokhail regretted that the law on the missing persons already exists, adding that the enforced disappearance was a crime. If someone is guilty, let them be tried. If not, then release them.

The AAG said the federal government wanted to resolve this issue comprehensively, once and for all.

Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi inquired as to how many missing persons have been recovered by the commission so far and will these individuals ever testify where they were kept.

The registrar of CIED however informed the court that the recovered individuals always kept mum and they do not share the whereabouts where they were detained.

Justice Musarrat Hilali however stressed the need for early legislation to end the chronic issue of missing persons.

Justice Mandokhail said “we can only hope that the government will take decisive action but we cannot compel parliament to legislate”.

Earlier on Jan 3, 2024, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by then Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa had ordered the federal government to furnish an undertaking in writing, signed by senior-most officers of the ministries concerned, that no citizen will be picked up other than in accordance with the law.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2025