WHEN his retirement is only a few days away, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has regularly been hearing cases of enforced disappearances. On orders of the chief justice on Dec 7 the authorities concerned produced some of the missing persons during in-camera proceedings before a single-bench of the apex court. The chief justice would resume hearing in dif ferent cases on Monday.

Apparently, the security agencies have been dragging feet on the issue probably in expectation that after the departure of CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry the superior courts might not hear such cases with the same interest.

Apart from the SC the high courts have also been hearing these cases regularly. Only in Peshawar High Court around 500 habeas corpus petitions have been pending and the number is on the rise.

Legal experts believe that with the retirement of the present chief justice of Pakistan this issue might not subside keeping in view the number of pending cases and the struggle by the relatives of these missing people for their recovery.

`Keeping in view the growing number of cases of enforced disappearances I believe this issue would continue to surface before the superior courts. Initially, the relatives of missing persons were scared and not coming to courts, but now they have been filing habeas corpus petitions in different courts, es-pecially the PHC,` said advocate Shahnawaz Khan, who has been dealing with some of these cases.

During proceedings before the SC the issue of internment centres was also discussed. All these issues had also surfaced before the PHC on numerous occasions. From time-to-time the PHC`s Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan has taken notice of the affairs of these internment centres and issuedpecially the PHC,` said advocate Shahnawaz Khan, who has been dealing with some of these cases.

During proceedings before the SC the issue of internment centres was also discussed. All these issues had also surfaced before the PHC on numerous occasions. From time-to-time the PHC`s Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan has taken notice of the affairs of these internment centres and issueddirectives concerning issues such as the visitation rights of the relatives of persons interned. A few weeks ago the PHC had expressed displeasure over death of an internee at one of the centres in Malakand and issued directives that autopsy of every such internee should be conducted if he died at the centre.The internment centres have been functioning under two regulations promulgated by the President of Pakistan in 2011. The president had on June 23, 2011, promulgated two almost identical regulations Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation for Fata and Pata through which several powers have been assigned to the armed forces and civil administration. The law provides for setting up of internment centers where detainees could be kept for unspecified period.

According to a notification issued on July 20, 2011, by the provincial home secretarythere are nine notified internment centers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These centers are: sub-jail PAITHAM (Pak-Austrian Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management), Swat; subjail Fiza Gut, Swat; sub-jail at Malakand; district jails Lakki Marwat, Kohat and Timergara; and Frontier Corps Forts at Drosh (Chitral), Chakdara and Timergara.

Similarly, another notification was issued by the additional chief secretary, Federallynamimsterea irioai areas, on Aug 12, 2011, under which around 34 internment centres were notified.

The notified internment centers in the seven tribal agencies and four Frontier Regions are: political lockups at Khar and Nawagai and FC forts at Kharand Nawagai in Bajaur; political lockups and FC forts at Ghalanai and Ekka Ghund in Mohmand; political lockups and FC forts at Landi Kotal, Jamrud and Bara in Khyber Agency; political lockup at Kalaya in Orakzai Agency; political lockups at Parachinar and Sadda and FC forts at Parachinar, Sadda and Alizai in Kurrum Agency; political lockups and FC forts at Miramshah and Mirali and Army Camp Razmaq in North Waziristan; political lockup and FC Fort at Wana and Javed Sultan Camp of security forces in South Waziristan; political lockups at Kohat and Kotal post at DarraAdamkhel in FR Kohat; political lockup at Bannu and Kajuri fort in FR Bannu; political lockup at Darazinda in FR DI Khan and FC fort at Jandola in FR Tank.

Following promulgation of these regulations it was expected that with the setting up of internment centres the issue of missing persons would be resolved. They thought that the `missing persons` who were in illegal custody of intelligence agencies and security forces would be shifted to internment centres and their relatives would be aware of their whereabouts. However, those expectations proved wrong.

Last year after continuous pressure from the court to shift detainees to internment centres, the federal and provincial governments had held meetings over the issue and provided some vital information concerning internment centres. On June 26, 2012, the court was provided a list of 1,035 detainees who were released after reformation and another list of around 895 persons detained in interment centres in Malakand. Again on July 11, 2012, the court was informed that 194 suspects had been interned in Lakki Marwat.

But later the security agencies started adopting routine tactics to delay the matter. On several occasions the PHC chief justice expressed annoyance over the slow pace of shifting of detainees to the internment centres.