ISLAMABAD, July 24: The government has begun contacting the family members of Jamia Hafsa’s students in an effort to resolve the controversy over its ‘missing students’. Interior ministry spokesman Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Tuesday that the students’ enrolment register had been retrieved from the building of Jamia Hafsa. According to the register, the total number of students in the seminary was 1,770, including 1,526 boarders, he said.

The government had received 58 applications about missing people. He said 59 bodies were yet to be identified. “We have almost completed the process of matching DNAs of 52 unidentified deceased with their family members and reports will be issued by Wednesday evening,” he remarked.

According to a final summary issued by interior ministry last week, a total of 1,327 people, including 468 girls/women, came out of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa and surrendered before the security officials during the eight-day siege. Of them 198 were injured.

Mr Cheema claimed that a large number of students had returned home before the start of the operation. He said: “We have contacted many students and found that they have reached their homes.”

He said 117 male students were still in police custody. “All of them except those involved in criminal cases would be released,” he added.

Many questions remain unanswered. For instance, if 1,770 girls were studying in the seminary and 468 of them surrendered during the siege, then what became of 1,302 girls?

Babar Awan advocate, who is pursuing cases on behalf of the affected people, alleged that the government was not sure about the exact number of the people missing. He said that over 50 people were missing, including traders and labourers. Cases for 24 missing people had been filed before the Supreme Court, he added.