KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday expressed extreme dissatisfaction over the performance of joint investigation teams (JITs) and task forces formed to locate “missing” persons, observing that these appeared nothing but waste of time.

Headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, a two-judge bench of the SHC was hearing a number of constitutional petitions filed for the recovery of 80 people, allegedly picked up by the police and law enforcement agency personnel in parts of the city on different occasions.

Coming down hard on the respondent authorities that included paramilitary troops, police and home department, the bench remarked that the different JITs formed to trace the “missing” persons had failed to yield required results.

The bench members were visibly irked when they learnt that no missing person could be traced by these JITs and the task forces since the previous hearing of the missing persons’ cases.

“The JITs and task forces conduct several meetings but produce nothing. The investigators are unable to locate the whereabouts of missing persons despite several sittings,” the bench observed.

The judges were informed that Shahzeb and Arsalan, the accused persons acquitted in a case pertaining to an attack on former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2010, were yet to be found. The investigating officer said the suspects had been missing just after being acquitted of the charges.

“There is no justification for whisking away the man who was nominated in any other case in the past. If the missing persons were involved in any criminal activity, they should be presented before court,” one of the bench members said.

The bench directed the home secretary to overview the matter personally and to play an effective role in the recovery of the people believed to have been picked by law enforcement agencies.

The petitioners had submitted that the family members were going through severe agony in the absence of their loved ones, adding that they were trying their best to trace the missing persons since the day of their arrest but to no avail.

They complained that the authorities concerned did not give any information about the missing persons.

The petitioners asked the court to direct the respondent authorities to trace their missing relatives and produce them in court.

Schools’ security case

Another division bench of the SHC directed the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research (Piler), a non-governmental organisation, to place before it a list of educational institutions which were under threat of terrorist attacks.

The bench was hearing a petition of Piler and others seeking effective protection for public and private educational institutions across the province to avert any attack by banned organisations in the wake of terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.

On Thursday, the bench directed the lawyer representing the petitioners to submit the list of the educational institutions which could possibly be attacked.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till Feb 15.

The petitioners had submitted that as per reports published in the media, welfare schools run by communities in Karachi were at high risk.

They said that some private institutions and schools had also complained of receiving threats.

According to them, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Islamabad Capital Territory had formulated standard operating procedure (SOP) directing the school administrations to adopt measures, including raising boundary wall topped with razor wire, and installing closed-circuit television cameras.

The petitioners asked the court to direct the government to provide foolproof security to the educational institutions in the province and declare that VIP security to politicians and ministers without reasonable classification was discriminatory and unlawful.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018