ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Supreme Court was informed on Friday that the armed forces and intelligence agencies were feeling frustrated by disparaging remarks being made about their performance although they were in the frontline in the strife-torn province of Balochistan.

“They are virtually at war with a faceless enemy but their efforts are not being recognised by the press,” Advocate Shahid Hamid, the counsel for Balochistan, regretted. These were the sentiments of the military, he said.

Shahid Hamid, who recently attended a high-level meeting presided over by Balochistan Governor Zulfikar Magsi and attended by federal law-enforcement agencies, the director general of southern command of Frontier Corps and other senior officials, said a comprehensive plan had been chalked out to utilise law-enforcement agencies, including the FC and Levies, in an effective and coordinated manner to bring Balochistan back to normalcy.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken up a petition of Balochistan High Court Bar Association president Malik Zahoor Shahwani and vice-president Sajid Tareen on the breakdown of law and order, incidents of terrorism, kidnapping for ransom and enforced disappearances in the province.

The meeting, Advocate Hamid said, had identified at least 88 ‘Farari’ camps in the province and about 38 in border areas being run by the banned outfits. He alleged that whenever a raid was planned against the camps, militants were tipped off in advance from inside and they went underground. But he admitted that the FC needed to improve its public image.

The chief justice observed that the only way to steer Balochistan out of the quagmire was to ensure free, fair and transparent elections by giving the people a free hand to elect their genuine representatives without any outside interference.

Since the general election was round the corner, immediate measures were needed to restore law and order, the court observed.

“Convey this message to the federal and provincial governments,” the chief justice asked the counsel and said all would suffer if old tactics continued to be used.

“There should be no interference in the coming general election. Only free and fair elections will ensure peace, bring about change and improve the law and order situation in the province,” the chief justice observed.

Balochistan desperately needed elections, said Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, a member of the bench.

The court asked the provincial administration, home secretary and IG police to expedite efforts to recover the missing persons and stressed that nobody should be kept in illegal confinement without adopting a legal course.

The court was informed that necessary measures had been taken to restore law and order in sensitive districts like Turbat, Panjgur, Kohlu, Jaffarabad, Marri, Kohlu, Khuzdar and Awaran.

ELECTORAL ROLLS: Chief Secretary of Balochistan Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad informed the court that he had recently held a meeting with provincial officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan for registration of voters in the troubled Dera Bugti district.

At the last hearing on Jan 29, chief of Bugti tribe Nawabzada Talal Bugti had stressed the need for early rehabilitation and resettlement of about 250,000 displaced people. He also called for addressing complaints about non-registration of the people of Bugti, Marri and Kohlu in the electoral list.

The court ordered the civil administration to approach Talal Bugti for assistance in the matter.

The chief justice praised Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa for visiting Dera Bugti despite all odds and setting up a court of district judge.

“We are of the opinion that unless all internally displaced people are brought back safely to their homes in Dera Bugti by adopting effective mechanism, peace in the area will remain elusive. Utilise the service of elders of the area,” the court suggested.

Expressing concern over the situation in Dera Bugti where everybody is complaining about the absence of civil rule and the FC being in charge, the court ordered the chief secretary to ensure that the FC was used only for specific purposes envisaged in the law.

“The people should be given full access by adopting a mechanism that ensures that no hindrance is made in repatriation of the displaced people,” the chief justice said, adding that before the announcement of election date, electoral rolls should be updated and delimitation of constituencies completed.

JWP LETTER: Meanwhile, Jamhoori Watan Party has asked the ECP to help eliminate no-go areas to ensure transparent elections in Balochistan.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, a copy of which is available with Dawn, JWP’s central secretary general Sardar Niyaz said his party had conveyed its concern to the authorities over obstacles to transparent elections, but no concrete measures had been taken so far.