SHC asks govts if financial aid can be given to missing persons’ families

The Sindh High Court has directed federal and provincial law officers to assist the court in matters of missing persons where family heads are missing and families are suffering due to financial crises in maintaining a minimum standard of life.

Hearing a petition against the alleged enforced disappearance of Mohammad Adil, who had taken from the Nazimabad area in January 27, 2017, a division bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar observed that rights of life and liberty of every citizen are guaranteed under the constitution.

The court observed that there can be no exception to the fact that the issue of missing persons is not a new one; rather, hundreds of complaints of like nature have been begging an answer.

It further observed that Article 9 of the constitution not only protects the right to exist or live but embodies the right to live a meaningful life with a minimum standard of living.

It said the petitioner claimed that the whereabouts of her spouse had not been known for last more than four years, and she was unable to manage education and welfare of her six children without any monetary benefits.

The court observed that the legal position gives rise to the proposition what could be the liability of the state towards the dependents of missing persons when the government failed to implement the constitutional guarantees to the citizens.

It directed federal and provincial law officers to assist it in answering the proposition particularly in matters where family heads were missing and families were suffering due to financial crises in maintaining the minimum standard of life. The court also asked the law officers to examine as to whether financial aid/assistance can be paid through the Zakat/social welfare department or the Baitul Mal to them.

It also directed the law officers to assist in regard to the services of the missing persons whose salaries were stopped by their departments because of their absence as to whether their families were entitled to receive the same or otherwise as per applicable service law. It also appointed Habib Ahmed advocate as amicus curiea to assist it.

The investigation officer filed a progress report, submitting that except for the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence, other law enforcement agencies had denied detention or arrest of the missing person, Mohammad Adil, and sought time to obtain a reply from the federal government agencies.

The federal government also assured the SHC that the government was taking the cases of missing persons very seriously and was hopeful that the government would pass legislation to criminalise enforced disappearances.