4,608 persons reported missing so far

LAHORE: The ratio of missing persons has increased during the last six month of 2017 an on average three persons are being added to the list of missing persons on daily basis, reveals data of Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, available with The News.

According to data, 549 cases of missing persons were received by the commission during the last six months of 2017. Cases of 92 persons were added to the list of missing persons in December 2017. In July 54 cases of missing persons, 158 in August, 58 in September, 83 in October, 104 and 92 cases of missing persons were received by the commission in the month of November and December.

While 319 cases of missing persons were received by the commission during first six months of 2017, 62 persons were added to the list of missing persons in January, 52 in February, 59 in March, 52 in April, 63 in May and 29 in June, 2017.

Families of 1532 missing persons had been waiting for their dear ones for the last many years. Since inception of Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (Coloed), 4608 cases of enforced disappearances/missing persons have been received, Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances says.

KP leads in reporting of missing persons. At least 867 missing persons in Khayber Pakhtoon Khah (KP) were yet to be recovered, 270 in Punjab, 138 in Sindh, 125 in Balochistan, 61 Fata, 50 Islamabad Capital Territory, 16 in AJK, and five in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) are yet to be recovered.

“Reporting of cases of missing persons has increased as people know to where they have to go for the redress of their grievances, Farid Ahmad Khan, Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced disappearances said. People trust the commission and are coming to lodge their complaints regarding missing persons, said Khan.

According to him, most of the missing persons belong to KPK and their missing reports are registered right after their disappearance due to awareness, added the secretary.

According to him, 2007 to 2009 people had gone missing during insurgency in KPK. People belonging to Balochistan look less interest with regard to filing their complaints regarding missing persons, added Fareed Khan.

Though the commission fixed the responsibility on institutions many times; no FIR was registered against the responsible persons involved in detaining the people. According to him, if a missing person is traced, no one seems to be ready to get an FIR registered against the responsible people.