After being summoned for a third time, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Wednesday finally appeared before the Islamabad High Court in a case pertaining to missing Baloch students.
During the hearing, which was presided over by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Kakar said it was time that “allegations levelled against the state every other day stop”. Justice Kayani had resumed hearing a petition regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances.
At the previous hearing, he had remarked that the “purpose of summoning the prime minister was to inquire why the state’s premier is failing in his duties.” The commission was established in 2011 to trace missing persons and fix responsibility on the individuals or organisations responsible for it. Wednesday, Kakar and interim interior minister Gohar Ejaz appeared before the IHC. Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan and human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari also appeared before the court.
As he was leaving the court premises after the proceedings, a reporter questioned Kakar on defending enforced disappearances. “I defended the allegations against the state in the name of enforced disappearances,” the premier, visibly irked, responded. At the outset of the hearing, Justice Kayani asked AGP Awan whether there were others, apart from the ones included in the previous list, that were missing.
