IT is high time the judiciary put an end to the culture of impunity that has allowed the missing persons crisis to persist. In a significant decision, the Islamabad High Court recently dismissed a set of appeals against fines imposed on the defence and interior secretaries, the Islamabad chief commissioner and several police officers for failing to recover three persons who have been missing for years. Before making its decision, the division bench asked if the government had, after the fine was imposed, succeeded in determining the whereabouts of the missing individuals, to which the additional attorney general, representing the errant officials, replied in the negative. Wondering whether the government was still “waiting for a miracle”, the court observed that the authorities repeatedly seek time in such cases but then “do nothing” to recover the missing. This, in fact, is the long and short of the government’s strategy to deal with the growing number of citizens going ‘missing’ each year.

It is a galling situation: it is no secret why citizens are routinely disappeared, and who most commonly does the disappearing. Yet, state representatives act oblivious or, worse, attempt to gaslight the grieving families. Meanwhile, fundamental rights are violated, families torn apart, and deep anti-state resentment grows, especially in communities that are routinely targeted. Then, when officials are held responsible for their obvious failures, they hide behind extensive legal defences and technicalities of the law to avoid accountability for their complicity. Perpetrators and their protectors’ ability to leverage power and state resources to seek legal protections even as they abuse the law themselves makes it all the more imperative for the superior judiciary to say ‘enough’ and refuse to become a part of this vicious cycle. Unless senior officials are held to account for failing in their responsibilities, it is unlikely that they will work sincerely to end the practice of disappearing citizens.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2024