ISLAMABAD: The issue of deaths, allegedly while in custody, refuses to be resolved despite judicial activism and the promulgation of laws; at least six bodies of missing persons have been handed over to their relatives over the past six months.

Five of the six who died allegedly in the custody of intelligence agencies belonged to Punjab. One — Abdul Razzaq Baloch — was a resident of Karachi who went missing on March 24, 2012. His body was recovered on Aug 20 last year.

According to a report prepared by the Defence of Human Rights (DHR), a non-governmental organisation working for the recovery of missing persons, the body of Baloch “was so deformed that the family was able to recognise it only by the shape of feet and clothes [sic]”.

Those who went missing from Punjab included Mohammad Jamil, who disappeared on March 7, 2012, from district Wazirabad. He was dropped near his house in October last year in a critical health condition. He was admitted into Lahore’s Mayo Hospital but died on Oct 29. According to the report, the cause of his death was that he was “severely starved”.

Faheem Ijaz Qamar, a resident of Gujranwala, went missing on Oct 12 last year. His body was recovered from the Sabzi Mandi area on Nov 1. Police conducted a post-mortem and it was found that the cause of Qamar’s death was also that he had been “severely starved”.

The report says that Mohammad Abbas, another resident of Gujranwala, was also found dead on Nov 30 last year, after having gone missing on June 10. His body was found near his house and no post-mortem was conducted.

Kaleemullah, a resident of Rawalpindi, went missing on June 22 last year and was found dead in a Chakwal hospital on Jan 4. Though the police conducted a post-mortem, no report was delivered to his relatives.

Mohammad Nadeem, the sixth missing person who allegedly died in custody, went missing from Samundari on Nov 11, 2012. Police brought his body to his home on Jan 2 this year and then buried it in the presence of family members. No post-mortem was conducted, claims the DHR report.

Amna Masood Janjua, chairperson of the DHR, told Dawn that the families of missing persons claimed that intelligence agencies’ officials picked up their loved ones alive and turned them into dead bodies. She said that the government and even judicial forums seem to have failed to stop enforced disappearances and that incidents of custodial killings are on the rise.

“The PML-N government has promulgated laws to regulate the custody of suspects but the intelligence agencies are still following the old practice,” she observed.

Senior lawyer Tariq Asad explained that last October, the government promulgated the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) in order to regulate the custody of suspects. This legislation empowered intelligence agencies to detain suspects for a certain period.

“The PPO is the law of the land and due to the presence of this law the intelligence agencies were supposed to disclose the whereabouts of persons they had detained,” he said, “but these agencies appear reluctant to follow this law because of their high-handedness.”

Accusing the superior judiciary of being lenient towards the intelligence agencies, he said that judicial restraint gave confidence to intelligence officials in continuing with their practice of detaining citizens on the grounds of mere suspicions.

Referring to the case of 11 suspects who went missing from Adiala jail, Mr Asad said that in January 2010 the Supreme Court disposed of this petition after military authorities admitted to having the men in their custody and informed the court that the suspects were subject to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA).

“The court should have examined as to why these civilians came under the ambit of PAA, which it did not,” he remarked, adding that in order to stop enforced disappearances and custodial killings, the government has to force intelligence agencies to follow the law and the judiciary must not show any leniency.

The federal minister for information and broadcasting, Pervez Rashid, said that the issue of missing persons has deep roots and this is a chronic problem. “There was a dire need for the introduction of such laws as terrorism is not amongst conventional crimes and law enforcement agencies are facing problems in apprehending terrorists within the law,” he said.

The minister expressed the hope that the PPO would streamline affairs between investigation agencies, the prosecution and the judiciary and that ultimately it would be beneficial for society. “The issue of missing persons will be settled as there are certain things which are yet to be streamlined,” he added.