ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday directed the Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari to ensure a meeting of the parents and child of a missing person Mudassar Mehmood with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah issued the directions while hearing a petition moved by Rana Muhammad Akram, the father of missing person Mudassar. The IHC bench directed to ensure the meeting before the next hearing and added that the matter shall thereafter be placed before the Federal Cabinet i.e. worthy Prime Minister and its members. “The latter shall direct all the agencies under its control to produce the missing person before this court or trace his whereabouts,” maintained the bench.
Justice Athar also said that in case the missing person is not produced before this court nor his whereabouts are traced, then the Federal Cabinet shall ascertain the agencies and public functionaries responsible for the failure and inform this court regarding the action taken against them.
During the hearing, Shireen Mazari Federal Minister for Human Rights and Yousuf Naseem Khokhar Secretary, Ministry of Interior appeared before the court.
The court observed that it is an undeniable fact that the practice of enforced disappearances has existed in Pakistan over a considerable time. The existence of this phenomenon is intolerable in a society governed under the Constitution. “Enforced disappearance is indeed a crime against humanity and one of the most detestable manifestations of violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” maintained the IHC CJ.
The court stated that in the case in hand, Mudassar Mehmood was engaged in the profession of journalism. It has been asserted in the memorandum of petition that he was a social activist and human rights defender; he was receiving threats, allegedly from officials of the state institutions. He went missing on 19-08- 2018. The relevant state functionaries did not respond in accordance with their constitutional obligations.
It further said, “The abysmal and insensitive reactions and attitudes of public functionaries towards the victims manifest the failure of the state to protect the fundamental rights of not only the missing person but his loved ones as well. It is, therefore, not unreasonable for the parents of the missing person to have reasons to believe that the state and its agencies may have been involved or complacent in the alleged abduction.”
“Perusal of the reports submitted by the respondents show that all the agencies under the control of the Federal Government i.e. the Military Intelligence, Inter Services Intelligence, Federal Investigation Agency, etc. have taken the stance that they were neither involved nor have they any information regarding the whereabouts of the missing person,” added the court.
Justice Athar also said, “In a nutshell, a citizen went missing three years ago. The prolonged proceedings before the Commission have been inconclusive. The state, its agencies and public functionaries did not respond in accordance with the duties and obligations contemplated under the Constitution. The state failed in protecting its citizen or to trace his whereabouts. After three years, the failure of the state, its agencies and public functionaries stands established.”
He continued that the conduct of the state functionaries, as is apparent from the record in the case in hand, is a mockery of rule of law. The state is like a mother, but regrettably the missing person and his loved ones have not been protected nor treated as such.
Later, the court deferred the hearing till December 13 for further proceedings.