ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday directed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to appear before it on Nov. 29 if over 50 ‘missing’ Baloch students had not been recovered by that date.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani passed the orders while hearing a case on the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, established in 2011 to trace missing persons and hold individuals or organizations to account for their disappearance.

“The prime minister and interior minister are from Balochistan,” Justice Kayani told the court, before summoning Kakar on Nov. 29. “They should be empathetic to this matter, considering it involves Baloch students.”

Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also appeared before the IHC in September last year in response to the court’s directive to ensure the recovery of missing persons.

Since 2008, the Supreme Court and other courts in Pakistan have heard several complaints over cases of missing persons.

Relatives and human rights activists say many missing Baloch have been taken by Pakistani security forces hunting separatists, who for decades have waged a campaign for greater autonomy or independence for the impoverished but resource-rich province. The Pakistani state denies involvement in enforced disappearances.

In 2019, the military issued a rare statement sympathizing with families of missing Balochs, while saying that some may have joined militant groups and “not every person missing is attributable to the state.”

In an interview with BBC Urdu over a month ago, PM Kakar said around 50 people were missing in Balochistan according to estimates by a UN sub-committee.

“Sometimes, we receive complaints in which they give us 5,000 names claiming they are missing. [They are] not ready to accept any UN best practices on collection of data of missing persons,” the PM said, adding that the issue of missing people was used as a “propaganda tool” against Pakistan.

Pakistan has repeatedly blamed India for fanning militancy in Balochistan, a charge New Delhi denies.