FIR of Azhar Mashwani’s ‘disappearance’ finally lodged

LAHORE: After a sessions court issued notices to the Lahore police chief on a petition seeking the registration of a case over the alleged abduction of Azhar Mashwani, city police on Saturday registered a case against unidentified persons for kidnapping the PTI activist.

Lodged on the compalint of Mr Mashwani’s brother Mazharul Hassan with Green Town police, the FIR stated that Mr Mashwani went missing outside his house on Thursday when he was going to Zaman Park in a cab.

However, his mobile phone was switched off after some time and his family and friends were not able to contact him.

His brother claimed that some unidentified people kidnapped his brother and took him to an undisclosed location.

Earlier, Mr Hassan had filed a petition with the sessions court, saying that an application for the registration of a kidnapping case had been filed, but no action had been taken so far.

The petitioner had asked the court to order police to register a case and recover his brother.

An additional district and sessions judge issued a notice to the CCPO with a direction to submit a reply on March 28.

The PTI social media activist was picked up on March 23, prompting PTI chief Imran Khan to say, “enough is enough,” as he accused the authorities of abducting the party activist.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has also condemned the ‘arrest’ of the PTI activist and demanded that he should be produced before a court of law.

In a tweet, the commission wrote, “HRCP condemns the arrest of PTI activist @MashwaniAzhar reportedly for having criticised the Punjab police and provincial government for employing questionable tactics against party workers in the recent political fray. Mr Mashwani must be produced before the court promptly.”

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023