Daily Times

Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Hon’ble Chairman of the Commission, directed to chalk out a well thought programme of hearings for September 2020 at all provincial headquarters as proper hearings could not take place for some time due to COVID-19.

Accordingly, the Commission arranged hearings at Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore in addition to usual hearings at Islamabad. The strategy worked out and consequently during the month September 2020, the Commission disposed of 76 cases of alleged enforced disappearances out of which 53 persons returned home, 09 persons were found in Internment Centers /Jails, 03 persons reported traced as dead, while 11 cases were deleted after thorough investigation, these cases were not found as of enforced disappearances. During the month Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman of the Commission himself visited Lahore and 16 cases pertaining to province of Punjab were disposed of. Mr. Justice Fazal-ur- Rahman, Senior Member visited Quetta for hearing in the cases pertaining to the province of Baluchistan during which 25 cases were disposed of. Similarly, Mr. Muhammad Sharif Virk, Member of the Commission presided over hearings at Peshawar pertaining to the cases of district Peshawar and disposed of 15 cases during the hearing. The remaining 20 cases were disposed of at Islamabad as hearings, simultaneously, continued at Head Office, as well. After hearings at Sub-Office, Karachi, Mr. Justice ® R. Ghous Muhammad, Member disposed of 07 cases pertaining to Sindh during this month. Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman of the Commission intends to preside over hearings at some other stations including Karachi during October 2020 to expedite the disposal of cases pertaining to the province of Sindh under investigation in the Commission. He will also preside over a high level meeting with all stakeholders at Karachi.

The statistical data indicates that the Commission had 6752 cases under investigation on 31 August, 2020 another 34 new cases were received during September 2020 thereby making the total number of cases as 6786. The Commission had disposed of 4642 cases upto 31st August 2020 and 76 more cases were disposed of during September 2020 making the total disposal as 4718 cases. Remaining cases as on 30th September 2020 thus works out to be 2068. The families of the Missing Persons whose loved ones have been surfaced expressed their gratitude to Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman for his untiring efforts towards this noble cause.