Amnesty International raised serious concerns on Wednesday over the disappearance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member and focal person to former prime minister Imran Khan, Azhar Mashwani who was allegedly abducted last week from Lahore.
A non-governmental organization (NGO) posted on Twitter that it is “alarmed by reports of the forced disappearance of Azhar Mashwani, whose whereabouts remain unknown.”
Amnesty International further stated that “Enforced disappearances have stained Pakistan’s human rights record for decades and continue with impunity. We call on the government of Pakistan to immediately release all disappeared people or promptly bring them before a judge in a civilian court of law to rule on the awfulness of their arrest or detention and whether they should be released.”
A day earlier, the PTI announced that it would bring up the issue of the legal actions taken against its leadership and the worker arrests on a global scale.
Dr. Shireen Mazari, a senior party official, said that the party had created a report detailing the “human rights breaches” committed by PTI supporters between April 10, 2022, and March 21, 2023.
The “arrest and abduction” of “approximately 750 leaders and workers, including Mashwani and Shahid Hussain” was denounced last week by senior PTI politician Fawad Chaudhry.
Fawad pleaded with the world to pay attention to “this state terrorism,” saying it was still unknown where Mashwani and Hussain were being held.
The former minister insisted that the current Pakistani leaders “should be punished by the international human rights rules.”
Police this week conducted searches and detained hundreds of Imran Khan’s followers and associates.
