‘Missing Baloch students’ case: IHC gives govt one more month to file report

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted on Tuesday the federal government one more month for filing a report on implementing the recommendations of an inquiry commission on the issue of missing Baloch students.

The IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani said that hopefully the government would pass a written order in view of the commission’s recommendations. He added that it was a sensitive matter of human rights violations.

Baloch students have been allegedly forcibly disappeared and their families are searching for them, the judge observed, urging the government to fulfil its responsibility to recover them.

The court was hearing a petition moved by human rights activist and lawyer Imaan Mazari, seeking implementation of the commission’s recommendations. Mazari questioned about personnel who were visiting educational institutions where Baloch students studied.

Justice Kayani said the court would determine the extent to which the recommendations had been implemented after receiving the report. He emphasised that the state must do its job because the issue could have profound effects. He asked whether or not the federal government was interested in implementing these recommendations and if the court should pass an order or the government would handle the implementation itself.

Additional Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Dogal submitted that the government was very much interested in the implementation of the recommendations and, for this purpose, had engaged three to four other stakeholders in the process. Justice Kayani remarked that the courts were giving decisions and there were plenty of them on the record; however, the implementation of the decisions was the responsibility of the government as the executive authority. He said that Justice Athar Minallah had passed a detailed order on this matter. He said the state had a duty to protect its citizens, and the government should present relevant documents and records before the court. The hearing of the case was adjourned till November 14.