Amid verbal duel, CJ orders replacement of FC head – DAWN.COM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: On the last day of his eight-year tenure on Wednesday, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the Balochistan missing persons case and handed down an order. The proceedings of the case saw a verbal clash between a counsel and the bench.

Heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench which had issued a contempt notice to Inspector General of Frontier Corps Balochistan Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid, the chief justice ordered that the next-in-command in the force be immediately appointed in place of the FC chief who was indisposed and admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology.

When Brigadier Khalid Saleem, who is at present heading the force, tried to explain that none of the missing persons was in the FC custody, the court said that without a proper notification by the interior ministry about his charge he could not be considered to be legally holding the command.

After the notification, the order said, the acting FC chief would ensure that the FC personnel allegedly involved in enforced disappearances appeared before DIG of Balochistan Crime Investigation Department Imtiaz Ahmed Shah in compliance with the earlier order.

It said the new FC chief, along with the provincial police and other law-enforcement agencies, would also ensure recovery of the missing persons, including Advocate Mir Ahmed Marwani who had been picked up from Khuzdar in Balochistan.

The new FC chief, the Balochistan chief secretary and the inspector general of police are required to appear before the Supreme Court on Dec 17 along with reports on progress in recovery of the missing persons.

The court said that since former FC chief Obaidullah Khattak had earlier given an undertaking in the court, all those who had affixed their signatures on the commitment to recover the missing persons would also appear before it to explain whether they had met the commitment.

The court regretted that despite protests by relatives of the missing persons, no-one took practical steps to redress their grievances. This is evident from the attitude of law-enforcement agencies as well as elected representatives who had promised to enforce fundamental rights in their election campaigns.

Similar is the position of the federal government, the prime minister and his cabinet as well as the elected representatives, particularly from Balochistan, despite the fact that they are aware of the miseries of the Baloch people, the court said.

It observed that it was a responsibility of the executive authorities discharging functions under the constitution to enforce fundamental rights. The court regretted that there had been a hue and cry for many years and relatives of the missing persons were continuously holding camps in Quetta and even marched to Karachi on foot with their children, women and the elderly demanding their recovery.

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Amid verbal duel, CJ orders replacement of FC head - DAWN.COM