PM Imran Khan tells secretary to quickly determine status of missing members of 13 Baloch families

• Prime Minister Imran Khan meets three-member committee representing the 13 Baloch families whose loved ones have been missing.
• Directs principal secretary to quickly ascertain the exact status of the missing persons.
• Reiterates that the government will fast track its bill to criminalise enforced disappearances.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed his principal secretary to quickly ascertain the exact status of the missing members of 13 Baloch families.

The prime minister, in a meeting with the three-member committee on Balochistan missing persons representing the 13 families which had staged a sit-in last month, committed to them that they would be updated on the progress in this endeavour, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said on Twitter.

The prime minister also reiterated that the government would fast track its bill to criminalise enforced disappearances besides amending whatever laws required.

Moreover, PM Imran Khan also asked that he be kept informed of progress on the whereabouts of the missing Baloch family members.

Mazari meets protesting Baloch families

Last month, as Baloch families staged a protest in Islamabad, Mazari met with the relatives of the missing persons.

The minister, during her meeting with the families, assured them that the government would resolve their problems and that the premier would meet them once the protest ends.

The human rights minister had said that the prime minister had requested the names of the people that were missing.

"The families should trust the prime minister," she had said.

'PM wants reactivation of draft bill on missing persons'

The premier had already by then instructed the cabinet to speed up legislation on the issue of missing persons, according to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz.

The families and relatives of missing persons "only have one demand, which is to know whether their loved one is alive or not", he added, noting that laws should be made for the issue.

"PM Imran Khan has given clear instructions to activate the draft bill on this immediately," the minister had said.

'300 missing persons recovered and sent home'

A few days later, Balochistan's Home Minister Mir Zia Langove said that he was given a list of 400 missing persons, out of which 300 people have been recovered and sent home with the help of the federal government.