ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Monday decided to visit all the provinces to work out a plan of action with the authorities concerned for recovery of missing persons.

Chairman of Functional Committee of the Senate on Human Rights Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar was perturbed that no responsibility was being fixed on anyone after people were going missing and especially after they were recovered.

He said 450 missing persons were released in the past, but no responsibility was fixed till date. Similarly former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar pointed out that cases of 153 persons picked up earlier were reviewed in detail in the committee and a copy was sent to the chairman of the Missing Persons Commission but no one had ever been held responsible. The committee will be informed of further details in the next meeting.

The abduction case of rights activist Sarang Joyo from Sindh province was examined in detail by the committee. Sarang Joyo’s father Taj Joyo informed the committee that his son had been released the previous night. He said his son was left in the desert with Rs3,000 in his pocket. “My son has done a lot of work on the promotion of Sindhi language and Sindhi literature. Several others like my son who had raised their voice over protection of Sindh’s rights have been abducted,” he said.

On hearing this, the chairman of the committee appreciated the services of Taj Joyo in literature and said that his services were also recognised by the president of Pakistan.

Senate panel members will discuss matter with officials in all provinces

Senator Usman Kakar said that the committee should take notice of the order on which the office of Sarang Joyo has been closed and also why the chairman of the Missing Persons Commission was absent from the meeting.

However, members learnt that the chairman, retired Justice Javed Iqbal, had to undergo eye surgery. There was also a security risk to his movement due to the appearance of former president Asif Ali Zardari before a NAB court.

Senator Khokhar was not pleased with this reasoning and decided to hold another meeting on Tuesday. “Chairman Missing Persons Commission Javed Iqbal should inform the committee about the details otherwise the case against them will be referred to the Privilege Committee,” he said.

He said the commission should provide complete data regarding missing persons to the committee so that a strategy could be adopted after reviewing it. He said the cases of missing persons should be presented in the parliament to monitor progress.

Amna Masood Janjua told the committee that she had data of 3,000 missing persons, of whom 1,200 had been recovered and the rest were still missing. “My husband has also been abducted. No trace of him has been found yet,” she said. The functional committee decided to include the issue of Ms Janjua’s missing husband in the agenda of the committee meeting to be held on Aug 28.

Regarding Senator Samina Saeed’s Protection of Women’s Rights Bill, 2020, Senator Khokhar said that the ministry had informed about the Bill that some of the suggestions in the Bill had been approved by the Upper House committees. The committee has already approved the bill and requested Samina Saeed, the mover of the bill, to review it and prepare a new draft and provide it to the committee.

Senator Prof D. Mehrtaj Roghani said the services of employees of the Workers Welfare Board, Khyber Pakhtun­khwa, were not being made permanent and their salaries were also an issue to be included in the agenda of the committee.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2020