Islamabad:
The Judge of the Supreme Court, Judge Athar Mordalh, emphasized on Saturday the need for an independent judiciary and intrepid judges to address the difficult situation of missing persons, remembering their own judicial struggles in some of the most difficult cases of forced disappearances.
Speaking at an event about missing people in Islamabad, Justice Minallah said that Pakistan’s institutions, including the Judiciary and Parliament, must accept the responsibility of the crisis.
“Our heads should be shame,” he admitted, “while Baluchistan’s women continue to march through disappeared loved ones.”
He lamented that “those who have exalted offices have not told the truth in the last 77 years. The day they begin to tell the truth, things will change. Everyone knows the truth, but we pretend not to do it.”
The judge emphasized that Baluchistan was “of the utmost importance for each Pakistani” and that the Constitution makes each judge responsible for maintaining fundamental rights.
“Even after amendment 26, article 184 has not been amended. Each judge of the Supreme Court is responsible for each violation of the fundamental rights that take place in Pakistan.”
Remembering the movement of lawyers, he said that his true objective was never simply a judicial restoration. “Let me say that this was not a movement for the restoration of the judges. I had a much greater, much larger role. Its role was to restore democracy, restore the Constitution and, above all, to have a rule of law in the country.”
He pointed out that during the movement of lawyers, the slogan was “Riyasat Sab Ki Maan” (the state is everyone’s mother), which means that the State is expected to take care of their children. However, he regretted that if it is perceived that the State itself is complicit, then the courts are helpless.
Justice Minallah also shared a personal memory of its years of civil service before giving up. Speaking in front of his teammates, he recalled, he encouraged others to do the same, including a police officer who admitted to having been informed of “an unnoticed policy of extrajudicial murders” during his first publication.
Returning to his judicial career, he described the cases of forced disappearance as “the most difficult” he found since his appointment in 2014. He recalled that his first decision on the subject had established a precedent.
“Fortunately, the first trial I gave, that victim of forced disappearance, his family, that daughter was also like Amna’s daughter,” he said. “And the trial I said … If you read that judgment, the instructions that were given, those instructions were extremely effective during the four -year period in which I served as president of the Supreme Court.”
He stressed that he had made clear his position for the government. “I had made it very clear to the Executive that I will not tolerate a single incident of forced disappearance from my jurisdiction.”
Justice Minallah cited the Maira Sajid case as a historical failure that became a reference point for responsibility. During his term as president of the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC) since November 2018, he said that the court worked “24 hours” as a constitutional court, managing urgent requests even at night.
“The first case that came to me … I was at home, and the Supreme Court did not take that case,” he recalled. “Although the journalists were there, I received it at night. I passed an order that these are my instructions in that trial. All these officials will be responsible if … and a separate message was sent to the authorities that there will be no tolerance at all.”
Among these cases were those of a disappeared SECP official linked to a retired general, a young man named Hamza, and another, Munir Akram. In each case, the strict judicial orders forced the authorities to produce individuals, sometimes in a matter of days. “But in older cases, progress was hindered by the lack of independent researchers,” he lamented.
He also recalled the disappearance of journalist Mudassar Naaru, whose little son was left in the care of his grandmother after his mother’s death. “One day I was in the cases of court hearings and, suddenly, I heard the sound of a child crying in court … That was the son of Mudassar Naaru. His mother had died and the state had not made them know if he was alive, he was dead or where he was.”
Looking to “sensitize the subject,” Judge Minallah ordered that Naaru’s son and grandmother were taken to the then prime minister. “It is very, very difficult for the courts when the State is not cooperating with you,” he said, emphasizing that the responsibility was directly with federal and provincial executives.
With “a very heavy heart,” he said, later summoned the then Minister of First Imran Khan to the courts. “And the prime minister appeared. Naaru’s son was also there. He also assured the court and the child that his whereabouts would be known when he was in a hurry to the SC.”
Judge Minallah said that the IHC had prioritized the intrepid judges because “for a judge or for a court, the only real evidence is the confidence of the people.” He added that even Baloch’s students had approached the IHC despite jurisdictional obstacles. “I knew I didn’t have the jurisdiction, but I assumed it.
The SC was there, other courts were there, but the only judgment on forced disappearances, addressing the nature of the crime, its severity and the extent to which it violates human rights, was Maira Sajid’s judgment. And in all jurisdictions, there is no other precedent of this type, because I looked a lot. “
He recalled having formed a commission on forced disappearances, appointing seven eminent voices, including Afrasiab Khattak, Rabbani, PML-N and Jui-F Representatives, and the main lawyers Kamran Murtaza, Ali Ahmad Kurd and Masood Kausar. Lums academics were also included.
“I knew that everyone was deeply vocal, that they had their hearts on this issue, and that they would find something significant,” he said, although he admitted that the destiny of the report was not clear after their elevation to SC.
He revealed that in 2023, he had written to the president of the President of the Supreme Court that marked the forced disappearances as “the most important issue in this country”, but “nothing happened.”
“We are responsible to Amna Janjua, we are responsible to their children, we are responsible for each victim perceived as a victim of forced disappearance,” he said. “I feel responsible and I apologize as a judge. Yes, yes. I am responsible. We are all responsible.”
Calling forced disappearances a national shame, Justice Minallah said that a society “where Baluchistan’s women are parading in the streets, our heads must be shame.” But they are women like Amna Masood Janjua and Mahrang Baloch who continue to lead. They only express themselves. What this country needs are independent judges and an independent judiciary. “
While stressing respect for Parliament, he added: “My experience has been that when they are in government, they do not want to hear that forced disappearances are a problem. They want to pretend that it is not a problem. But it is.”
Justice Minallah warned that without the rule of law, judicial independence, democracy and constitutionalism, “our destiny will not be fair with our next generations. We owe them. And we owe young people.”
