QUETTA: The Supreme Court on Monday issued summons for the federal defence and interior secretaries as well as the prime minister and governor Balochistan’s principal secretaries to appear before the court on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, was hearing a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan at its Quetta registry.

The bench directed the Chief Secretary of Balochistan to take immediate action against all illegal vehicles in the province, while ordering telecommunications authorities to only issue a single mobile SIM for every identity card. Moreover, the chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was also summoned to appear on Tuesday in this regard.

The president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association informed the court that 18 journalists had fallen prey to target killings in the province, at which the chief justice ordered that the families of the victims be compensated and the murder cases be filed in the court.

Today’s proceedings were mostly dominated by the issue of the ‘missing persons’ as the chief justice summoned the federal defence and interior secretaries to appear before the court on Tuesday, May 22.

The chief justice criticised the DIG Investigation Hamid Shakil as he expressed dissatisfaction over the police report on the Balochistan law and order situation. Furthermore, he remarked that police officials were not performing their duties up to the mark.

The police informed the court that two more missing individuals had recently been recovered; both Sanaullah and Shahnawaz had gone missing from Kuchlak town. Balochistan Advocate General Amanulllah Kamrani confirmed that Abdul Zakir, who was reportedly abducted from Khuzdar, had returned home. Moreover, he also informed the court of recovering Abdul Wahab – another individual who had also gone missing from Khuzdar.

So far, 23 ‘missing persons’ have been recovered at the SC’s orders during the past two months, the court was told.