Daily Times

The mysterious recovery of bruised and battered dead bodies of not one, not two but three workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement from different parts of Sindh this week is a serious cause for concern. While the key leadership’s immediate plunge to stoking the fire of ethnic unrest is just as disturbing of a trend, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has very rightly expressed alarm over the “failure of the state to protect their right to life.”

Because what a group of furious leaders are trying to pass as a case of targeted victimisation in a bid to revive (for the millionth time) their clash with the security institutions reeks of something far more sinister. That despite its constant assurances of letting the law take its course, Pakistan is still an active participant in the kill-and-dump spree is a clear signal that Islamabad may talk all it wants but it still does not have the cider to command authority over the whole kit and caboodle.

It goes without saying that this unfortunate coincidence is bound to breathe new life into the stories of injustice. Going by the pyrrhic victory in Karachi–once considered its citadel–by-election in June, the party is in desperate need of some salvation: a magic spell to unite the fast-fissuring Mohajir vote bank. And letting powerful hands continue with their tricks in broad daylight might just do that.

But the strength of the electoral vote bank of a had-been political player aside, tales of unmitigated suffering, especially when a sitting prime minister has appeared before a high court bench to admit his duty towards missing persons cannot and should not be allowed to take centre-stage. The interior minister’s firmly enunciated resolve would do little to appease fears until and unless an immediate and thorough investigation is conducted and made public. In the past, press releases by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances formed at the behest of international commitments have grossly failed to give a comprehensive account of such cases. Many a time, it has drawn the ire over apparent lack of interest in finding out what had happened to the victim during his vanishing act; was he ever given a fair trial as guaranteed by the constitution and who or what was behind his abduction?

A tough appearance before the honourable court awaits Mr Shahbaz Sharif, who had very confidently remarked that he “would not make any lame excuses” and instead, make all-out efforts for the recovery of the disappeared. Perhaps, he had not realised that the country wished to see those deprived of fundamental liberties alive, not covered in a ghastly shroud. *