Almost all missing person cases in Sindh solved, inquiry body told

Karachi

The Sindh police department’s focal person informed the inquiry commission on enforced disappearances on Tuesday that almost all missing people in the province had been traced and only a few cases were pending.

According to a statement, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, the president of the commission and a former judge of the Supreme Court, presided over the hearing of the cases on Monday and Tuesday along with Justice (retd) Dr Ghous Mohammad.

DIG Crime Branch Azhar Rasik Khan, the focal person on missing person cases and police’s human rights cell in-charge inspector Muhammad Altaf Awan, attended the hearing.

Overall, 32 cases were heard during the two days of the session, of which 29 were declared solved and disposed of.

Talking to The News, the DIG Crime Branch said the commission was formed on the orders of the apex court and during the course of the inquiry, it was found that there were 32 missing person cases lodged in the province.

He added that 29 cases were solved wherein most people in the missing list had a criminal record and were imprisoned for their crimes after being booked.

He said these cases pertained to smuggling, illegal possession of weapons or their trade and other crimes. In three of these 29 cases, the missing individuals had returned to their homes as they were not involved in any crime.

The DIG said the three cases pending for investigation were those wherein the addresses provided by the missing persons’ families were incorrect and police teams were unable to contact them. However, he added,, the police were still trying to solve the three cases.