Supreme Court of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan. — Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed the hearing of a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan, DawnNews reported.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, was hearing the petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association on the law and order situation in the province.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kinrani's reply on the matter was unsatisfactory and did not provide any assurance regarding the recovering of 'missing' persons.

The chief justice moreover directed the advocate general to submit a collated response.

He further said that provincial authorities should ensure the enforcement of the country's law and Constitution in Balochistan.

The court moreover expressed its displeasure over the non-submittal of a written reply on the matter by Inspector General of Frontier Corps (FC) Major General Obaidullah Khan Khattak.

Addressing the counsel for intelligence agencies, Advocate Raja Mohammad Irshad, the chief justice said that if the agencies fail to recover the missing, the court would order arrests of agencies' men.

Earlier, during Wednesday’s hearing, the court regretted that Attorney General Irfan Qadir had never shown interest in cases pertaining to law and order in Balochistan and did not even bother to attend the proceedings.

Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja was of the opinion that local government elections would help ameliorate the situation in Balochistan because the suspended development works would start and the life of people would improve.

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