ISLAMABAD: After poor response from various government departments, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Human Rights has taken notice of missing persons and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to present a detailed report on “custodial deaths” on September 22.
Parliamentary sources told Daily Times that Senator Nasreen Jalil – the committee’s chairperson who herself belongs to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) – summoned the committee meeting in Karachi on September 22 and 23 after the approval of Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani. Sources said that the MQM wrote a number of letters to the government, while their leaders also met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on the missing persons issue, but their voices could not be heard, after which they decided to raise the issue in the human rights committee. The committee will first visit the Central Jail Karachi and take briefing on the human rights situation in the jail. They committee members will also meet the prisoners, sources said. Sources said that besides a report on custodial deaths, the committee has also sought details of the alleged physical and mental torture inflicted on detainees from the Human Rights and Interior ministries. Sources said the committee actually wanted to know how many MQM workers were in custody of law enforcement agencies. For that purpose, the committee has also asked the Sindh chief secretary to present a detailed report, while Sindh Rangers officials have been directed to attend the meeting as well. The National Commission for Human Rights would brief the committee on the missing persons from Gujjar Nala Karachi.