Missing persons bill still 'missing', Senate committee told.

ISLAMABAD -- A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights was informed on Wednesday that the bill pertaining to enforced disappearances was still not found and continued to remain "missing".

The bill, Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2021, was passed by the National Assembly (NA) on November 8, 2021, and is aimed at making amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure. In January, former human rights minister Shireen Mazari had revealed that the bill had gone missing after it was sent to the Senate, having been passed by the relevant standing committee and the NA.

Last month, Mazari claimed that she was asked to appear at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters over the bill. She went on to say that after the bill was tabled in the NA, it was referred to the interior committee where "invisible shadows" tried to change the clauses. She had regretted that the bill "disappeared" on the way to the Senate.

The bill's mysterious disappearance came under discussion during a session of the standing...