Justice Minallah rues judges’ plight in missing persons cases in face of state non-cooperation

Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah on Saturday elaborated on the difficulties judges faced regarding cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances in the face of non-cooperation by the state and lawmakers.

The judge was attending a documentary screening organised by rights group Defence for Human Rights Pakistan, where he delivered remarks to attendees and noted that cases regarding missing persons and disappearances were the most difficult he had come across.

Addressing the gathering, Justice Minallah said that when he ordered that disappearances be investigated or missing people be found, “the authorities would come and they would all say that we don’t know where they are.”

At this, the judge pointed out: “The judge and the court cannot do anything when you don’t have independent investigators.”

Minallah added: “Every judge of the Supreme Court is responsible personally for every violation of fundamental rights that takes place in Pakistan.”

The judge recounted an instance when he suddenly heard the sound of a child crying in his courtroom. Upon asking his staff, the child came forward with his grandmother.

“That was Mudassar Naaru’s child,” Minallah said, referring to the journalist who went missing in 2018. “His mother had passed away and the state had failed to at least let them know whether he was alive, he was dead, or where he was.

“Yes, I wanted to sensitise the issue because there was nothing else that I could do and I would go by the constitution,” he added.

“Under the Constitution, the executive head is the prime minister. I passed an order that this child and his grandmother be taken to the then-prime minister of Pakistan.

“It’s very, very difficult for the courts when the state is not cooperating with you. But the Constitution says that it is the prime minister, the cabinet and then the provinces, the chief minister and the ministers who are responsible. You can’t blame someone else.”

Minallah recalled that he summoned the then-PM to appear in court. “Naaru’s son was also there. He (the prime minister) also assured that child [in court], that his (Naaru’s) whereabouts would be known,” he stated.

“Well, I was in haste elevated to the Supreme Court. But before that, let me say to you, the Islamabad High Court, the first priority was to have competent and fearless judges,” Minallah said. “And for a judge or for a court, the only test is the confidence of the people in that court.”

The judge noted that it was the duty of the state to investigate these incidents and hold people accountable. Recalling the first judgment he gave, he stated that the directions he gave were “extremely effective during the four-year period that I served as the chief justice”.

“I had made it very clear to the executive that I will not tolerate a single incident of enforced disappearance from within my jurisdiction,” he said.

“But let me say a word. As a judge, I have always respected the parliament and the elected representatives,” he continued. “They have been victims for the past 77 years.”

However, the judge said that in his experience, “those who are in the government … don’t want to be told that this is an issue. And they also want to pretend that this is not an issue. It is an issue.

“It is for the political leadership. When they are in opposition, they are absolutely different.”

Minallah said that during the four years he served as the Islamabad High Court’s chief justice, students from Balochistan would approach the court about disappearances in the province.

“I knew I didn’t have the jurisdiction, but I assumed the jurisdiction,” he said, noting that the Supreme Court and other courts were there.

“When the Balochistan students came, I didn’t know what to do because it was out of my jurisdiction. The investigations had to take place in Balochistan. But the law did provide me with that jurisdiction.”

The judge urged the need for an independent judiciary, adding that the fact that women from Balochistan had to march in the streets for rights was a matter of “shame” for everyone and him.

Concluding his speech, he said: “Those holding exalted offices, I am afraid they haven’t spoken truth in the last 77 years. The day they start speaking the truth, things will change. We have heard some sitting ministers, some former ministers. I wish one day they will also speak the truth because we all know the truth. Everyone knows the truth, but we pretend that we do not know the truth.”

Earlier this week, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan assured the National Judicial Policy Making Committee that a mechanism for producing detained people in cases of enforced disappearances would be presented before the body in its next meeting.

Earlier this month, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) revealed that enforced disappearances and other issues were fuelling public alienation and political instability in Balochistan following a fact-finding mission to the province.

According to the report, titled Balochistan’s Crisis of Trust, the HRCP undertook the mission from July 9-12 to respond to the “escalating concerns over the deteriorating state of fundamental rights and civic freedoms in the province”.

The mission aimed to examine the state of fundamental freedoms in the province and the broader impact of conflict and militarisation on civilian life, the report said in its terms of reference.

In the first half of 2025, a total of 125 missing persons cases were submitted to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. The total number of cases received up till June 2025 was 10,592, while 1,914 cases of them were disposed of and 6,786 were traced, the commission said.

In December 2024, the Cons­ti­tutional Bench of the Sup­reme Court emphasised that only parliament held the authority to add­ress and resolve the longstanding, yet unlawful, practice of enforced disappearances — a persistent issue that has plagued the nation for decades.

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