ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued written verdict of missing persons case.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued the four-page written verdict making the undertaking of the attorney general part of it.
The attorney general gave an undertaking to court on behalf of state and law-enforcement agencies that “every person who has been missing will return to his family, come what may.”
According to the attorney general, a committee on ‘enforced disappearances’ comprising federal minsters has prepared its recommendations which will be presented before the court after approval from the cabinet.
The attorney general told the court that solution to disappearance cases lied in political settlement. He assured the court that he had talked to the authorities to solve this intractable matter once and for all.
Complainant’s lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari has submitted a list of three people to court in this regard. Court expected attorney general to inform it about the whereabouts of these people in the next hearing.
It has also been stated in the exhaustive verdict that DG IB’s plea for formation of committee of law-enforcement agencies has been accepted.
Earlier, The Islamabad and Lahore high courts on Friday issued notices on multiple petitions against a notification from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) barring the reporting and airing of content on sub-judice matters.
According to a notification issued by the electronic media regulator on Tuesday, television channels were directed to “refrain from airing tickers/headlines with regard to court proceedings and shall only report the written orders of court”. However, where court proceedings were broadcast live, the proceedings may be reported, the notification had said.
It had also said that all satellite TV channel licences were directed to not air content, including commentary, opinions or suggestions, about the potential fate of sub-judice matters which could prejudice their determination by a court or tribunal could be aired.
The ban came amid strong remarks made by Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani about intelligence agencies and government officials in multiple court hearings on the case of a missing Kashmiri poet.
The remarks had prompted criticism from Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar who said that such remarks from court proceedings should not make their way into the public domain. –Agencies
