ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights will meet at the Parliament House on Monday to take up issues like incidents of target killings, extra-judicial killings and the missing persons.
According to the meeting notice sent to the members by the National Assembly Secretariat, the first item on the agenda is the incidents of target killings of doctors and other persons by “various ethnic groups and political parties”.
This is not for the first time that the committee headed by Pakistan Muslim League-Q MNA Riaz Fatyana will be taking up the issue of target killings in the country, particularly in Karachi and Balochistan. In the meeting, the committee members are expected to review the implementation of its recommendations and directives issued in the previous meetings.
In August last year, the 17-member committee had called for reviewing the process of issuance of arms licences and installation of modern security equipment at various places in Karachi to monitor the law and order situation in the city.
The members had opposed the strategy of deputing uniformed civil armed personnel at the sensitive places as, according to them, it used to create more harassment among the public. Instead, the members had suggested that scientific methods should be adopted and modern security equipment and cameras be used.
The committee will also take up the sensitive issue of hundreds of missing persons who have allegedly been taken away by intelligence agencies for interrogation over their alleged links to the Balochistan militants and other militant groups in the country.
Their relatives claimed that they were picked by the country`s intelligence agencies but never produced in any court of law.
According to the government`s findings presented before the court in May last year, about 1,600 persons had gone missing till 2008. Of these, 1,300 went missing after the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006 and the military operation launched against the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2007.
Besides, the committee will also take up the issues of `extra judicial killings` and increase in the kidnapping for ransom incidents in the country.
Another important item on the agenda is `the issue of unidentified dead bodies.` The committee members will be briefed by the concerned authorities about the procedure that is followed by various departments and police following the recovery of an unidentified body.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/21/2011
