Pakistan opposition party reports ‘abduction’ of media team members

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s main opposition party, led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, said Saturday that its foreign media coordinator and several social media activists were “abducted” and have “disappeared.”

Relatives and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, accused personnel of state security agencies of being behind the disappearances, demanding their early and safe recovery.

A spokesperson for the PTI said that among those who went missing was Ahmed Janjua, an international media coordinator working at the party’s headquarters in the capital, Islamabad.

“And due to consistent international reporting of all the atrocities that are taking place in Pakistan, now my team is being abducted along with others,” Zulfiqar Bukhari wrote on social media platform X.

“This continuous deterioration of basic human rights won’t be allowed to continue for long,” he said.

Janjua’s wife swiftly petitioned the federal high court for his early recovery. Farhana Barlas stated that, "20 people dressed in plain clothes forcibly entered their house early in the morning and conducted a search before taking him away, along with his mobile phone and laptop.”

Her lawyer, Imaan Zainab Hazir, later posted security camera video of the raid on Janjua’s home, stating that their “habeas petition” will be heard Monday.

VOA contacted but did not receive an immediate response from Pakistan’s federal minister for information and broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, via his WhatsApp number regarding his reaction to allegations that government security agencies were behind the abductions of PTI media team members.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that PTI was eligible for around two dozen extra reserved seats in parliament, saying the party was unconstitutionally deprived of them.

Analysts say the ruling has ramped up pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s weak coalition government and strengthened PTI allegations that the February 8 national elections were heavily rigged to keep the party from returning to power.

Khan has also won several other legal battles in recent days, leading to the quashing of all charges, ranging from corruption to sedition and a fraudulent marriage.

But the 71-year-old former prime minister, jailed since last August, was unable to walk out of jail because the government swiftly detained him on new charges of graft and inciting anti-state rioting, which Khan denies as frivolous.

Khan, a cricket hero turned prime minister, was ousted from power in 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence after a falling out with Pakistan's powerful military.