ISLAMABAD: A poet and journalist from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who was reported missing days after openly criticising the powerful army was found in police custody after the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday summoned Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, the district commanders of ISI and Military Intelligence, and secretaries of the defence and interior ministries for hearing.
Ahmed Farhad Shah’s wife, Saeed Urooj Zainab, said in her court petition that her husband had been “under pressure from government agencies” for months because of his perceived support for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
She claimed the 38-year-old man, whose roots lie in Bagh district of Pakistani Kashmir, was abducted by the ISI from his home in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on May 15 because of his anti-regime stance.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was informed that Shah, who works as a freelance journalist, is in the custody of Dilkot police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Intelligence officials abstained from the hearing, leaving it to Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan to inform the court of the suspect’s whereabouts. Islamabad’s police chief said his department could not intervene as it was outside Pakistani territory.
Judge Kayani said he would dispose of the case if the family of the missing poet is satisfied with the information available to them, adding: “I will send papers for the setting up of a larger bench to investigate how he went missing.”
Iman Mazari, the petitioner’s lawyer, said it was no coincidence that before his mysterious disappearance, Shah had been writing on social media against the army’s response to anti-inflation protests in Pakistani Kashmir. “Another civilian goes missing and an FIR is registered four days later,” he said.
Ahmed Farhad Shah’s wife, Saeed Urooj Zainab, said in her court petition that her husband had been “under pressure from government agencies” for months because of his perceived support for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
She claimed the 38-year-old man, whose roots lie in Bagh district of Pakistani Kashmir, was abducted by the ISI from his home in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on May 15 because of his anti-regime stance.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani was informed that Shah, who works as a freelance journalist, is in the custody of Dilkot police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Intelligence officials abstained from the hearing, leaving it to Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan to inform the court of the suspect’s whereabouts. Islamabad’s police chief said his department could not intervene as it was outside Pakistani territory.
Judge Kayani said he would dispose of the case if the family of the missing poet is satisfied with the information available to them, adding: “I will send papers for the setting up of a larger bench to investigate how he went missing.”
Iman Mazari, the petitioner’s lawyer, said it was no coincidence that before his mysterious disappearance, Shah had been writing on social media against the army’s response to anti-inflation protests in Pakistani Kashmir. “Another civilian goes missing and an FIR is registered four days later,” he said.
