When all else fails, the highest offices in the land need to answer critical questions about what role state institutions have played in violating citizens’ fundamental rights. In this context, the Islamabad High Court ordered to summon the caretaker prime minister on February 19 for the hearing of the petition related to the missing Baloch students. While hearing the case on Tuesday, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani expressed anger over the state’s inability to recover the missing persons. The Attorney General had told the court that out of 50 missing persons, 22 have been recovered while others are still unaccounted for. Justice Kayani remarked that he was summoning the caretaker prime minister but the incoming chief executive could also be asked to appear before the court.

It is hoped that the efforts of the judiciary to trace the missing persons and end the sad practice of enforced disappearances will be fruitful. However, it must be said that the state has often not stopped such efforts, and has, in fact, stigmatized protesters demanding the recovery of missing persons. The caretaker prime minister has criticized the protesters in the past, linking missing persons to terrorism and hostile intelligence agencies, while criticizing the judicial system for not prosecuting those allegedly involved in separatist militancy. . So it will be interesting to see what the government tells the court on this sensitive subject. But the caretakers will soon be packing up, and the incoming administration will have to tell the nation what it wants to do to end enforced disappearances.

The fact that the protesters marched from Baluchistan to Islamabad, received an inhospitable reception from the authorities, and camped out in the capital for a month to highlight their plight, is an indication of the problem. Explains about The authorities may cruelly dismiss these protests as a publicity stunt, but that does not change the fact that people are going missing in Pakistan, with no recourse to proper action. Explanations that the judicial system is too weak to prosecute alleged wrongdoers, and that the only solution is missing suspects are implausible and an excuse to let the law of the jungle prevail. Disappearances must end and perpetrators must be brought to justice, while factors fueling discontent in Balochistan need to be addressed.