QUETTA - Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday said that it was the job of the Frontier Corps (FC) to establish peace in Balochistan.
According to a private television channel, he issued the above stated remark during the hearing of a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan at the Supreme Court’s Quetta registry.
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 the province.
During the hearing, S M Zafar said that physical and psychological attacks were being carried out against the FC. Zafar moreover said that 415 FC personnel had been killed and over 600 injured in attacks.
He said the FC was operating under a strict discipline. In his remarks, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that the court’s priority was to establish peace and ensure recovery of the missing persons. He remarked that the common perception was that FC personnel detained people and did not inform concerned civilian authorities.
He further said that the FC’s job was to establish peace in the restive province. Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kinrani said the government had a list of the missing persons and there were 78 names on that list. Justice Khawaja said that Ministers have alleged that there was proof of involvement of a foreign hand in the unrest in the province. He further questioned why the Ministers were not providing information pertaining to foreign involvement to the concerned institutions.