Senators demand removal of Justice Javed as missing persons body chief

ISLAMABAD: Senators from all parties have moved the Upper House of Parliament seeking the removal of Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal as Chairman of missing persons commission.

They have submitted a resolution in the Senate. The resolution demands that Justice Iqbal is removed from the post of Commission of Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances chairman, local media reported.

The post of the missing persons commission is a very sensitive one and a person accused of sexual harassment should not be heading it, the resolution reads. It also said that the government has already formed a commission to investigate the allegations against Justice Iqbal, so he should immediately be removed from his post.

In June this year, the woman at the centre of a 2021 video leak controversy involving then anti-graft chairman Iqbal, had written to the Public Accounts Committee to seek a probe against the former boss of NAB.

Iqbal quit as NAB chief on June 3 after an ordinance granting him an extension expired and the current government refused to ratify it. His four-year term had already ended in October 2021.

Tayyaba had claimed that she and her husband were subjected to personal vengeance when the NAB was under Iqbal, though she was later acquitted by a trial court. She is not the only woman who has levelled sexual harassment allegations against Justice (retd) Iqbal.

Amina Masood Janjua, a human rights activist who works with the families of missing persons, told journalist Hamid Mir on his show Capital Talk that Justice (retd) Iqbal had sexually harassed the wife of a missing person when she appeared before the missing persons commission.

Ms Janjua claimed that when the young woman approached the commission to inquire about her husband’s whereabouts, Javed Iqbal allegedly told her why she was ‘looking’ for her husband “as she was so beautiful that she can have any man she wants.” The federal government in July formed a commission on Gul’s allegations against the former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman.