373 reported missing this year

LAHORE: The number of enforced disappearances in the country continues to surge as 373 persons have been reported missing till July this year, reveals data of Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance (COIOED, the news has learnt.

 Average two persons are being disappeared on daily bases, The data available with The News disclosed that 62 persons were added in the list of missing persons in January, 52 in February, 59 in March, 52 in April, 63 in May, 29 in June and 54 in July during 2017. Thus, 373 persons have been disappeared since January of this year.

The Commission received 4113 cases of missing persons since 2010. According to data, 649 persons disappeared in 2015 while 728 disappeared during 2016.  The commission report states that out of the 4113 cases, 2857 have been disposed of till June 30, 2017.  According to the report 2125 missing persons traced till July 2017, while 1256 cases remain a question mark.   

In contrast to the popular belief that Balochistan leads the number of enforced disappearances, the data of the report shows that the ratio of missing persons is more in KPK (751 missing) than any other province of the country. In fact, Baloshistan is on the third number with 98 missing persons after Punjab where 245 persons were reported missing. Sindh has 50 missing persons while FTA 48. In Islamabad, 45 persons have gone missing,  14 from AJK, and  5 in Gilgit Baltistan till July 2017. 

A total of 377 cases of missing persons were heard by the commission in different parts of country in July 2017 — 180 in Islamabad, 47 in Lahore and 150 in Karachi.