PTI’s Azhar Mashwani decries continued absence of missing brothers since June 6

PTI activist Azhar Mashwani on Thursday decried the continued missing absence of his brothers since June 6 after allegedly being picked up by law enforcement agencies.

Qazi Habibur Rehman, the father of alleged abductees Zahoorul Hassan and Mazharul Hassan, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court last month for their recovery. A counsel for the petitioner had alleged that the sons of his client were in illegal custody of the law enforcement agencies.

In a statement today, Azhar alleged that he and his family were being “targeted” for his affiliation with and support of the PTI and criticising the military.

“I have done nothing wrong and am not wanted in any case,” he said, adding that his father and brothers were previously abducted as well. He said 29 days had passed since they went missing last month.

Meanwhile, Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Faisal Kamran told Dawn.com that a case regarding the incident was already registered with court proceedings under way.

He said the police were working on the case and investigating it from different angles.

Rights organisation Amnesty International also lent support to Azhar’s call for the immediate return of his brothers.

“A pattern of enforced disappearance is emerging, seemingly to intimidate those living abroad who are critical of the Pakistani government and the military.

“The government of Pakistan must immediately disclose their whereabouts and ensure an effective, independent, and impartial investigation into these disappearances,” the organisation demanded.

It also called on the public to take action and demand their immediate release by sending letters to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, providing a template which called for their whereabouts to be made public, an investigation into the case and prosecution of those responsible.

Past LHC proceedings

Advocate Abuzar Salman Niazi had alleged that some plainclothesmen and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel detained the petitioner’s sons, adding that intelligence officials were accompanying the police when the brothers were picked up.

The counsel had stated that the CCTV footage showed four CTD personnel, while the others were unidentified, asking why two unknown individuals were part of the police team.

At a later hearing, a law officer had submitted two separate reports on behalf of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) expressing ignorance about the whereabouts of the alleged abductees.

The LHC had later directed a joint investigation team to recover the two brothers by June 27.