PESHAWAR  - Peshawar High Court Thursday directed both the federal and provincial govts to submit separate lists of missing persons in the court, including a list about natural deaths and extra judicial killings in the custody of law enforcing agencies.
The bench issued these directives after the ministries concerned and KP govt failed to submit progress report in 301 missing persons cases. Majority of the cases have been running for the past four or three years.The two-member bench comprising CJ Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain directed the federal govt through ministries of defence and interior and KP govt through secretary home and tribal affairs department to submit separate lists of missing persons. These lists should be about the internments, about those released by law enforcement agencies and those died of natural death and in extra judicial killings as the court would pass an appropriate order in these cases. The chief justice observed that cases of missing persons killed extra judicially were pending with the court. Besides, the PHC CJ asked the law officers, including Deputy Attorney Generals Manzoor Khalil and Farooq Shah, representing the federal government and agencies and Additional Advocate Generals Waqar Ahmad Khan and Mian Arshad Jan to submit progress report of detained missing persons’ cases in the interment centres prepared by oversight board.
The bench said that the court wanted to know when the missing persons were shifted and how long they were in custody of law enforcement agencies. The court took strong notice of the absence of representatives of ministries of defence and interior and provincial home department and directed the law officers to ensure their presence in each missing person case on next hearing.
Of 301 cases, the court was told that 16 missing persons were shifted to various internment centres and in the remaining cases ground check of the agencies were under process. The chief justice observed that majority of the cases were three to four years old so the court and the relatives want whether these missing persons are alive or not.