QUETTA, May 4: The Supreme Court, hearing a petition on the law and order situation and human rights violations in Balochistan, observed on Friday that the prime minister, federal ministers for interior and defence and the provincial government appeared to be not serious about resolving the issue of missing persons.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Pervez regretted that summons had been issued to the Balochistan chief minister and home minister, but none of them appeared before the court.

The chief justice said the chief minister was not taking any interest in the affairs of the province and, therefore, the court would ask the governor to play his role in restoring peace in the province.

The court said the interior minister and other government authorities used to issue statements in the media on the grievances of Balochistan, but in fact they were not serious about taking practical steps to recover the missing persons, provide security and protect the life and property of citizens.

`Balochistan police know everything about the missing persons, but they are neither ready to share information with the court nor do they want to take steps torecover them,` the bench observed.

The court orderedregistration of cases against two serving majors of the Frontier Corps in connection with the kidnapping of one Ali Hasan Mengal from Khuzdar.

The weeping mother of 13year-old Shabbir Samalani informed the court that her son had been missing for four years. She requested the judges not to leave for Islamabad till the recovery of her son.

Justice Tariq Pervez said: `A grieved mother is weeping in the court; I am astonished why stones are not falling from sky. The cry of a mother for justice can bring punishment from God to the responsible persons.

The chief justice said: `We have no interest in the case of a person belonging to the elite class, but in the case of a grieved mother because a mother cannot tell a lie.

He said police were hiding truth from the court, but `we will proceed to Islamabad with the file of Shabbir`. He ordered police to recover the boy who reportedly went missing from the Brewery police station in Quetta.

`The police after arresting the boy as target killer have handed him over to a secret agency and they are now avoiding telling the court which intelligence agency has custody of the boy,` the CJP said.

He gave police two weeks to recover lawyer Munir Mirwani who had disappeared from Khuzdar.

He said the court would summon the defence secre-tary, along with relevant records. The secretary will be bound to ask the heads of relevant institutions who will take responsibility for the deteriorating law and order.

The CJP asked FC Balochistan`s DIG Brigadier Shehzad why people were being kidnapped in the presence of his force. He was told to convey to the FC inspector general the court`s order for early recovery of the missing persons.

The FC DIG said resources to work on the issue were not adequate. He suggested the setting up of a joint team of civilian and non-civilian institutions to trace the missing persons.

Deputy Attorney General Malik Sikandar informed the court that the sector in-charge of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) could not appear because he was not in Quetta.

The CJP asked him when the Balochistan IG could come to the court why not the sector in-charge of ISI.

`The Supreme Court bench is not sitting in Quetta to listen to stories from the authorities,` he said, adding that the province was burning and stakeholders would have to play their role in putting out the fire.

The families of seven persons who disappeared from Marwar area informed the bench that three of them had reached home. The remaining four are still missing.

When the CJP asked who had picked up theses persons, they said FC personnel had taken them away from their homes. He ordered the FCtorecoverthefour.

The CJP asked the provincial government to immediately release the salary of Dr Akbar Marri, one of the miss-ing persons, to his family.

The chief justice sought a report on missing person Zakir Majid when lawenforcement officials informed the court in camera that he was wanted in cases of heinous crimes.

He said the FC IG would have to appear before the apex court in Islamabad if three people who had disappeared from Zarghoon Road area in Quetta were not recovered till Friday evening.

The court asked Home Secretary Naseebullah Bazal what steps had been taken against the kidnappers of judges. The CJP regretted that people were being forced to set up camps to collect money to pay ransom to the kidnappers to get their beloved ones freed.

The chief justice asked the home secretary what action had been taken on the home minister`s statement about the involvement of some ministers in kidnapping for ransom.

The secretary said he had asked the minister several times to tell him the names of these ministers but he had refused to do so.

Chief Justice Iftikhar said police and the FC should conduct a joint operation to abolish camps set up for receiving ransom. `The apex court will extend all support to the forces in this regard, he said.

All possible steps should be taken to end target killings and bring the elements involved to justice.

Relatives of another 60 missing persons submitted their applications to the court.

The next hearing of the case will be held in Islamabad after two weeks.