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One of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s most senior media advisers has been abducted from his home by police and unidentified armed men, Mr Khan’s party says, days before a UK parliamentary event discussing the erosion of the country’s democracy.
CCTV footage released by the party appears to show Ahmed Janjua, who works as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s international media coordinator, being taken into custody at around 4am on Saturday.
Neither the government nor police have yet commented on the incident, nor has a reason been provided for Mr Janjua’s apparent arrest.
On Tuesday a debate is due to be held in the UK’s House of Lords on Pakistan’s “Democracy in crisis” and the ongoing detention of Mr Khan, who remains in prison despite being granted bail or being acquitted in many of the criminal cases brought against him. He says all the charges are politically motivated, and part of a wider effort by the country’s military and political establishement to keep his party – which won the most seats in this year’s general election – from power.
Tuesday’s event is being hosted by Labour MP Naz Shah and Daniel Hannan, the former Conservative MP and now member of the House of Lords as Lord Hannan of Kingsclere. Mr Janjua had been actively involved in organising the event and promoting coverage among the international media.
Mr Janjua’s wife, Farhana Barlas, has filed an urgent application in the Islamabad high court alleging that around two dozen armed personnel, who did not identify themselves, barged into their home with their faces covered and abducted her husband.
The men broke down the main door of the house, conducted a search of the house without presenting a warrant and seized the occupants’ phones before “dragging away” Mr Janjua, the application said. It represents one of the most high-profile abductions of a PTI official in months.
Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari, a close adviser to Mr Khan and spokesperson for PTI who is among the speakers set to address parliament on Tuesday, told The Independent that Mr Janjua and three other PTI workers have been abducted and “no one knows where they are or who took them”.
Mr Bukhari said the party believes the abduction was linked to the UK parliamentary event and designed to prevent it from receiving international attention.
“This is a serious attack on not only Mr Janjua but everyone who has been abducted, especially the international media team,” he said in a statement.
Mr Khan has been incarcerated since he was arrested in August last year. First elected as prime minister in 2018, he was ousted through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2022.
His arrest triggered violent unrest across Pakistan, with some supporters attacking facilities associated with the country’s military. Those riots have been used as the basis for the arrest of thousands of PTI workers and some of the criminal charges brought against Mr Khan, who was convicted on several charges just before the election in February. It meant he couldn’t stand for election, and his party was also prevented from being registered. Its candidates ran as independents instead, though most media accredited their victories to the party.
A UN human rights panel has called for Mr Khan’s immediate release, saying he has been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international laws”.
The UN working group on arbitrary detention noted in an opinion that Mr Khan’s detention had “no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for office”.
The Shehbaz Sharif government denies unfairly targeting the opposition party, and says criminal cases against PTI activists are justified given the attacks on military facilities in May last year. The authorities accused Mr Khan of “instigating violence” and called his rioting supporters “arsonists” exhibiting “enmity against the motherland”.
On Saturday, journalists and activists called for the safe release of Mr Janjua and others.
Haroon Janjua, a freelance journalist, said: “Very alarming and tragic. Ahmed Janjua international media coordinator and a very decent guy went missing early this morning. He should be immediately released, hoping for his safe recovery in these tough times.”
Amjad Ali said: “Any attempt to curtail the flow of information to the media is condemnable. The state must ensure their safety and return as soon as possible.”
Earlier this week the country’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said in a press conference in Islamabad that a move to ban PTI would be discussed in cabinet and that the government would go to the Supreme Court to push it through, if necessary. It was not the first time the government has said it plans to outlaw Mr Khan’s party.
The Independent has contacted prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office for comment.
