ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa yesterday said that the Supreme Court wanted to solve the problem of missing persons and enforced disappearances “once and for all”.

“This country belongs to all of us, even those who may have other points of view,” he said. “This matter will only be resolved when we all work together and take responsibility. Let’s make Pakistan strong from within.

If Pakistan is strong from within, no outside forces can touch it,” the CJP added. Justice Isa passed these remarks as a three-member bench comprising the CJP, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard a set of petitions against missing persons. One of the pleas included an application filed by former senator and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan.

At the outset of the hearing, which was broadcast live, Advocate Shoaib Shaheen appeared on behalf of Ahsan. He urged the apex court to accept the instant petition and declare that enforced disappearances are “violative of, inter alia, Articles 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law, etc), 9 (security of person), 10 (safeguards as to arrest and detention), 14 (inviolability of dignity of man, etc), 19 (freedom of speech, etc) and 25 (equality of citizens) of the Constitution”.

He further requested the top court to declare that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances “does not adequately comply with legal and international standards”.

Here, the CJP inquired about the commission of inquiry to which the lawyer read out loud a notification issued by the PPP notifying the constitution of the same in 2011.

Shaheen argued the commission had failed to adequately function and fulfil its responsibilities. “So far, over 2,200 people are still missing and there is no information about them,” he told the bench. Justice Isa remarked that the formation of a commission was a good thing and asked if the petitioner wanted the body to be dismissed.

At one point during the hearing, Shaheen raised the matter of the disappearances of several political activists, including Usman Dar, Sheikh Rasheed, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Azam Swati and others. However, the CJP wondered if these people were willing to come to court. “We cannot grant you the permission to make the matter political,” he said.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 03 2024

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