ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday recorded its verdict over the Balochistan missing persons case and ordered for the production of missing persons in front of the Director General of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), DawnNews reported.
The apex court bench held Inspector General of Frontier Corps Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid responsible for the production of the missing persons during the hearing of a contempt of court notice against the IG FC for defying the court's order by not appearing for the proceedings of a case relating to missing persons from Balochistan province.
Acting inspector general of the FC, Brigadier Khalid Naseem, appeared in the apex court, whereas the court sought the issuance of the notification pertaining to the posting of Brigadier Khalid Naseem at as the acting IGFC and the date at which the missing persons would be produced.
The order recorder by the court said that heirs of the missing persons were facing hardships whereas law enforcement agencies could do nothing about it.
The court also segregated the IG FC contempt case from the Balochistan law and order case proceedings and adjourned the next hearing until December 19.
Last week was the first time that a chief of the FC was issued a contempt of court notice. The court had previously warned IG FC Maj-Gen Shahid that he may face contempt charges if he failed to appear before it on Dec 5.
Maj-Gen Shahid was required to attend the Dec 5 proceedings to justify why FC personnel allegedly involved in enforced disappearances did not appear before the Crime Investigation Department of Balochistan despite a clear court order.
The court had also rejected a request by Advocate Irfan Qadir who tried to appear on behalf of the FC inspector general and had stated that unless the officer obeyed the order no concession could be extended to him.
The contempt notice was issued under Article 204 of the Constitution, read with Section 17(1 and 3) of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003, authorising the court to proceed against a person by framing contempt charges after a preliminary hearing.