The government on Friday announced a Rs5 million “support package” per family of missing persons, which would provide them with legal and financial assistance, the law minister said.

Balochistan has seen multiple protests and unrest in the past months over the issue of missing persons. Baloch demonstrators had marched to Islamabad in December but were met with force and arrests. They called off their sit-in outside the National Press Club a month later.

In the past week, sporadic violence has claimed the lives of three protesters and injured at least 24 as the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s sit-in in Gwadar is set to end.

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Earlier this week, the government notified a three-member committee comprising top intelligence officials to help with the recovery of missing persons, after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered it to do so in February.

Addressing a press briefing in Islamabad, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that a report, based on the findings of two previous cabinet committees, had been presented to the cabinet committee for missing persons during the caretaker government’s tenure. He added that the report was presented before the federal cabinet today and some of its salient recommendations have been approved.

He said that families of missing person face several economic problems, therefore, in view of those issues, the cabinet had decided to provide an urgent support to them after due diligence.

“A special committee will be formed to determine which families need an immediate support package, after which each [eligible] family will receive Rs5 million,” Tarar said.

Tarar detailed that more than 2,000 cases “determined by legal mechanisms were facing some hardships”, and of which 1,000 would be prioritised on a first come, first serve basis, beyond a five-year limit.

However, he did not specify the number of families that would be provided with the support package.

Tarar further said that the prime minister has formed a committee to determine the process for disbursement of the package.

“Keep in mind that this is not a compensation of any kind, as there is no compensation for a human life,” the law minister clarified, adding that the package was being given as a “support” to such families considering their “hardships until the matter is resolved”.

“May God have the person return and reunite with their families, then this would not be an amount to be reclaimed. […] We say that the state is like a mother so the state has some responsibilities for its citizens.”

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Tarar termed it “welcoming” that the report stated with “clarity […] that there was positive cooperation from [intelligence agencies] and they also want this matter resolved within a legal framework”.

He noted there “more finger-pointing was carried out [towards intelligence agencies] that maybe it happened because of them, even though there are numerous reasons for missing persons and statistics are also available”.

He explained that recommendations on other related matters were also made, including the possible legal framework, future strategy to prevent such cases, and necessary instructions to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to take care of issues pertaining to missing persons’ bank accounts and inheritance.

The minister noted that for many years, it had come under discussion “what the reasons [behind the disappearances] are and what the involvement of state agencies is”, adding that the commission formed under the Supreme Court’s directives has been functional for more than a decade.

He recalled that members of a committee formed in May 2022 under the PML-N-led coalition government had visited Quetta and talked to the affected families.

He added that the caretaker government also formed a similar committee and “sought input from our intelligence agencies, state, and military institutions”.

197 reported missing in first half of 2024

A total of 197 missing persons cases were submitted to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) in the first half of 2024, according to a report by the commission.

The report stated that 226 cases were disposed of in the first six months of 2024.

The commission said that the total number of cases received up till June 30 was 10,285 with a total of 8,015 of them disposed of — including 4,514 returned home, 1,002 in internment centres, 671 held in prisons, 277 found dead, and 1,551 disposed of.

In late February, days before leaving his office, former caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar had appeared before the IHC — after being summoned for a third time — in a case pertaining to missing Baloch students.

In a January hearing on the same case, IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had remarked that a day would come when intelligence officials would also be held accountable and face prosecution for cases. In a subsequent hearing, he had observed, “The punishment of enforced disappearances should be the death penalty.”