The Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari and the interior secretary on Monday have been summoned by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on December 1 regarding the case of a missing journalist and blogger.
The high court’s orders came in response to hearing a plea seeking recovery of the missing journalist and blogger Mudassar Naaru.
Additional Attorney General Qasim Wadud, Deputy Attorney General Syed Tayyab Shah, and counsel Iman Mazari appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah expressed infuriation over the additional attorney general’s failure to confirm the date the prime minister and his cabinet will be meeting the affected family.
The judge noted, “If the son of an influential person had gone missing, the reaction of the state would have been different”.
The court added that it has only ordered the prime minister and the cabinet to meet with the affected family.
The judge remarked, “If a citizen goes missing, it is a very serious crime. It is unfair that the affected families have to go to the commission.”
The court adjourned further proceedings of the case till December 1.
Four days ago, the IHC had ruled that the state and its functionaries must discharge a heavy burden to satisfy the loved ones, especially the dependents of the victim that it is not a case of “enforced disappearance”.
The court also stressed that the phenomenon of “enforced disappearances” constitutes a grave crime against humanity.
Authored by Justice Minallah pertaining to a matter related to the enforced disappearance of journalist and poet Mudassar Mahmood alias Naaru, the five-page order read, “The track record of the state and its functionaries regarding enforced disappearances has not been flattering nor encouraging. It is on account of such a track record that the state and its functionaries have to discharge an onerous burden to satisfy the loved ones, particularly the dependents of the victim that it is not a case of ‘enforced disappearance’”.
Naaru is missing since August 20, 2018.
