ISLAMABAD: The Senate has expressed “its deep concern over the issue of missing persons” and asked the federal and provincial governments to take “immediate and effective steps to ensure speedy recovery and release” of all of them.

A resolution moved on Wednesday by Jamaat-i-Islami’s Prof Khursheed Ahmed was adopted unanimously.

The resolution termed “abduction and forced disappearances” a violation of the fundamental right to justice granted to every citizen by the Constitution.

The resolution specifically mentioned such incidents in Balochistan, Karachi and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The Senate of Pakistan expresses its deep concern over the issue of missing persons, involving persistent violation of Articles 9 and 10 of the Constitution. While acts of terrorism or subversion are unforgivable, every citizen is innocent till proved guilty through due process of law.

“The abduction, arbitrary lifting and forced disappearance of any human being is illegal and intolerable in a civilised society.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has also taken serious note of this situation which has assumed serious proportions in the country, particularly in Balochistan, Karachi and Fata,” it said.

The house resolved that “the federal and provincial governments should take immediate and effective steps to ensure the speedy recovery and release of all such persons, except those who are charged under the law of the land for any offence”.

The resolution called for the presentation before the house of a detailed report on the issue by the authorities concerned “as early as possible”.

The three JI senators, who are retiring on March 11, had also tabled a bill last month, seeking reduction in the powers of “preventive detention” of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. The bill is pending before a house committee.