Pakistani court summons premier in missing students case

KARACHI, Pakistan

A court in Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar in a long-pending case related to over 50 allegedly missing students belonging to southwestern Balochistan province, a court record said.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court ordered Kakar to appear before the court along with the defense and interior ministers on Nov. 29 if he does not secure the release of the reportedly missing Baloch students.

Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also appeared before the court in September last year and assured the court of recovery of the missing students.

“The prime minister and interior minister are from Balochistan. They should be empathetic to this matter, considering it involves Baloch students,” Justice Kayani remarked.

Nationalist groups and rights activists accuse the security forces of picking up Baloch students from campuses across the country and keeping them in illegal detention for their alleged involvement in “anti-state” activities.

They allege that “thousands” of Baloch activists have also been missing.

Kakar, in an interview last month, claimed that according to a UN sub-committee report, only 50 people have been forcibly disappeared in Balochistan.

Pakistani security forces have long been facing a low-intensity rebellion in Balochistan, which makes up the country’s largest province in terms of land.