QUETTA: The Supreme Court at its Quetta registry on Monday resumed the hearing of a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan, DawnNews reported.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, was hearing the petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association on the law and order situation in Pakistan’s largest province.

During today's hearing, Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kanrani informed the court that “four out of 135 missing persons had been recovered”.

Chief Justice Iftikhar remarked that the recovery of only four missing persons indicated that the provincial government was not taking the issue seriously.

The chief justice reiterated that the security situation in the province was alarming and remarked that the advocate general should inform the court on the government's behalf in writing that it could no longer control the situation.

Chief Justice Iftikhar moreover remarked that every time the bench goes to Quetta, tortured bodies of missing persons start surfacing.

"Yesterday also, tortured bodies were recovered in the province's Dasht area," the chief justice said.

Upon which, the advocate general said that the tortured bodies were of those killed in action by the Frontier Corps (FC).

Justice Khawaja pointed out that “a man who goes missing in 2007, the FIR of his case is registered in 2010”.

The bench directed authorities to produce Abdul Malik, a man who had went missing from the province's Naushki area, before it tomorrow.

Advocate General Kanrani said he had held two meetings with the prime minister and the army chief, adding that the provincial government was trying to improve the security situation in Balochistan.

The bench reiterated that the heirs and families of missing persons should be compensated.

Balochistan's Home Minister Zafarullah Zehri was also present during the hearing.

SC’s interim order of June 20

During the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had ordered the recovery of 93 people missing in Balochistan and action against law-enforcement agencies involved in enforced disappearances in the province.

In an interim order, the bench had said that enforced disappearances should be immediately stopped and action be taken against culprits.

The court had directed the security agencies to produce the missing persons.