Pak: IHC excludes military from summons on enforced disappearances

In a recent judgement, the Islamabad High Court has ordered summons to all past and present governments responsible for the 'enforced disappearances' while excluding military out from the decision.

The defence forces in Pakistan are widely accused of being responsible for the 'disappearance' of an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 persons, however, the exclusion of the military from the summons highlights its alleged role in political turmoil of Pakistan.

The directive by a bench headed by Justice Athar Minallah came on May 30, close on the heels of an allegation by former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari that she had been summoned by the Pakistan Army's powerful intelligence arm, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in connection with her government's move on 'missing' persons.

Mazari, herself a security analyst, was in the government of Imran Khan, which was voted out last month. Like Khan, she has been critical of the army's alleged role in the continuing political turmoil. In its notices, the court directed that all 'missing' persons be recovered and produced before court on June 17 failing which, the Prime Ministers and interior ministers, both past and present, must appear before it.

The issue of 'disappearance' of large number of people began in 1999 and became larger in the wake of 9/11 and Pakistan's role in the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan. Many who were detained, or went into exile, or were suspected to have ended up in the US' jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were listed as 'missing' or 'disappeared' and their families have been agitating for long.Pakistan's Supreme Court, as also other courts, and Justice Minallah himself, has passed orders asking that those missing must be recovered and restored to their families. Minallah last year directed that their families be compensated by the government of the day.

While Musharraf has been named in the order, other former 'executives' -- the prime ministers and interior ministers, past and present, have not been included in the list.

"The onus is on each chief executive to rebut the presumption and to explain why they may not be tried for the offence of high treason," the judge said in a strict order.

As per a local media report, the activists from Balochistan province are high on the list of the 'missing'. Baloch 'nationalists', forming many groups, have been fighting the state to oppose curbs on civil rights and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects that they say deprive Balochs of natural resources, while giving few jobs.

According to Amnesty International, the commission received 3,000 cases of such disappearances. By 2021, the Commission reported that it has received 7,000 cases of forced disappearance since its inception and it has resolved around 5,000 of those cases.

The issue of forced disappearance in Pakistan originated during the Musharraf era (1999 to 2008), but the practice continued during subsequent governments.

Human right activists allege that the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan are responsible for the cases of forced disappearance in Pakistan. However, the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan deny this and insist that many of the missing persons have either joined militant organisations such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan and other conflict zones, or they have fled to be an illegal immigrant in Europe and died en route, the local media report stated.

Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country, or seek individual or social rights. Cases of enforced disappearances have been majorly recorded in the Balochistan and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces of the country which host active separatist movements.

( With inputs from ANI )