Lawyers lament missing persons cases lingering in courts

Lawyers on Saturday urged the judiciary to expedite the disposal of missing persons cases in a bid to provide relief to the concerned families longing to find their loved ones.

Speaking to a seminar organised by the Karachi Bar Association on the issue of the missing persons in the City Courts, former Sindh prosecutor general Shahadat Awan said enforced disappearance was a curse bigger than murder.

He lamented that laws protecting the liberty of citizens had been enacted in the country but they were not being implemented. He asked the lawyers to come up with suggestion regarding how this issue could be resolved.

Awan said the families of the missing persons had nowhere to go but to courts to seek recovery of their loved ones but justice eluded them because of the snail pace with which the judicial system worked.

He urged the bench to dispose of the missing persons cases within a week and demanded implication of the prime minister and interior minister in case any missing person died.

If the Gujjar Nullah and Nasla Tower cases could be addressed on a priority basis, why the missing persons cases, which were no less than a grave humanitarian crisis, could not be decided in an expeditious manned, he asked.

Senior lawyer Salahuddin Gandapur said the case of missing persons was a public issue and needed public support because the institutions seemed helpless.

He lauded the struggle of missing persons’ families who were present during the seminar and gave them credit for keeping alive the issue for the past many years.

He said that he had been hearing about the issue since his childhood and such cases had increased over the years. He remarked that the regime of General Pervez Musharraf was the worst in this context.