ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday issued an interim order during the hearing of a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan and summoned the federal defence and interior secretaries and Commandant, FC, Dera Bugti, Col Arshad to appear before it on Saturday, 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, heard at the court’s Quetta registry the petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association on the law and order situation in Pakistan’s largest province.

During the hearing, the chief justice inquired of Chief Secretary Balochistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad with regard to a report on the province.

Upon which, the chief secretary requested the bench for more time so that "improved results" could be presented before it.

However, Chief Justice Iftikhar reiterated that the bench had directed that missing persons be produced, adding that, the provincial government had failed to improve the security situation.

Targeted killings and kidnappings for ransom were still ongoing in the province, the chief justice said.

The bench issued an interim order in the case and summoned the federal defence and interior secretaries and Commandant, FC, Dera Bugti, Col Arshad to appear before it on Saturday.

The hearing was subsequently adjourned to Sept 8 (Saturday).

Earlier on Thursday, the court rejected a report submitted by Defence Secretary Maj-Gen (retd) Asif Abbasi regarding missing persons and targeted killings and summoned the Dera Bugti Frontier Corps commandant for today (Friday).

“Commandant, FC, Dera Bugti, Col Arshad should appear before the court along with Kaho Bugti who has been missing for a long time,” the chief justice ordered when FC lawyer Raja Irshad submitted that no missing person was in the custody of the force.