Minister For Human Rights Shireen Mazari and the interior secretary have been summoned by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to appear before the court on December 1 in the case pertaining to the disappearance of journalist Mudassar Naaru.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah was annoyed when the additional attorney general failed to give the court a date when the prime minister and the cabinet can meet the family of Naaru.
The judge said that it was a serious crime if a citizen goes missing and it is unjust that the affected family has to go to the commission looking for justice. He added that the state machinery would have reacted differently if a son of an influential person had gone missing.
Earlier, the IHC had ruled that it was the responsibility of the state and its representatives to assure the affected family that this is not a case of “enforced disappearances”.
The court further observed that enforced disappearances were a ‘grave crime against humanity’.
“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’”, wrote justice Athar Minallah in a five-page order regarding the disappearance of Mudassar Naaru.
Naaru has been missing for more than three years.
