THE Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was created in 2011 with directives by the Supreme Court to trace the missing and hold those responsible to account. Fourteen years on, it appears it has done neither. Its latest report, boasting that it “disposed of” 103 cases in a single month, should ordinarily signify progress. Instead, it has triggered scepticism. The Defence of Human Rights movement points out that such speed implies cursory hearings. Some cases were apparently closed in minutes, with rubber-stamp phrases such as “the detenue disappeared by himself”. This is bureaucratic shorthand for sweeping the matter aside. More worryingly, the commission recently declared “resolved” a case in which the individual in question had resurfaced alive a decade ago — suggesting its record-keeping is as casual as its fact-finding.

The obvious questions remain unanswered. Have these people really been recovered? If so, from where, and under what circumstances? If they simply reappeared, why were they listed as missing for years, even decades? And if they were in custody, what justification is there for their prolonged disappearance? The blanket suggestion that over 100 people vanished of their own accord defies common sense. It also trivialises the pain of families who have spent years seeking answers from an unresponsive state. DHR warns that hurried bulk disposals, flimsy explanations and neglected evidence are stripping the commission of credibility. Such practices erode public trust and inflame political grievances, particularly in provinces like Balochistan and KP. The government of Shehbaz Sharif, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, would do well to heed these warnings. Enforced disappearances are not a clerical issue; they are a crime. The commission was meant to cut through red tape. Instead, it has become a machine for closing files, not cases. Unless it is reformed, Pakistan’s missing will remain just that — missing.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2025