SC requested to urgently hear case of enforced disappearances

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has been requested to fix early the hearing of a plea against unlawful practice of enforced disappearances as the matter, it is claimed, has not been taken up for one and a half years despite the fact that recently there has been a surge of enforced disappearances of citizens including journalists, politicians, bureaucrats, political workers and other dissenting voices.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen on Saturday filed a civil miscellaneous application for the early hearing of his petition filed last year, challenging the unlawful practice of enforced disappearances, praying for decaling it a violation of the Constitution.

On January 3, 2023, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarat Hilali had heard the petition of Aitzaz and other petitioners regarding the unlawful practice of enforced disappearances.

The former senator had filed the petition under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, praying to the apex court to declare that enforced disappearances were a violation of Articles 4, 9, 10, 14, 19 and 25 of the Constitution besides declaring that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances did not adequately comply with legal and international standards.

In his CMA, Aitzaz has submitted that more than one and a half years have passed since the last hearing and the issue of enforced disappearances is one of the most detrimental and agonizing problem of Pakistan.

The matter is of utmost importance and needs to be fixed without further delay in the greatest interest of justice.