The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed investigating officers to use modern devices for tracing the whereabouts of missing persons, and directed the federal and provincial governments to get photographs of missing persons published in all print media and shown on all electronic media.
Hearing petitions against the disappearances of people from different parts of Karachi, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto observed that in most of the missing persons’ cases, serious efforts were not being made by the police for the recovery of missing persons, and their families were disappointed.
The court directed the home secretary and the provincial police chief to look into the matter seriously. The court also directed the home secretary to submit details of the missing persons whose cases have been recommended to the chief minister for providing financial assistance to their families.
The court observed that the performance of the provincial task force is not up to the mark, and directed the home department to improve its performance.
The court also directed the heads of joint investigation teams (JITs) and IOs to collect fresh travel histories of missing persons from the Federal Investigation Agency, information from internment centres and detention centres from all the provinces, and fresh reports from all the law enforcement agencies with regard to the whereabouts of their detainees.
On the petition against the enforced disappearance of Faheem, who was missing since 2015, the court observed that no clue has been found with regard to the whereabouts of the detainee.
The court was informed that the frequent transfer of the IO is also causing a delay in the recovery of the detainee. The court directed the investigation DIG to supervise the investigation himself and submit a progress report. The court directed that the sessions of JITs and the provincial task force be repeated, and reports be submitted to the court on the next date of hearing.