Azhar Mashwani relocated to Islamabad, claims Fawad Chaudhry

Mashwani’s wife in letter to CJP Bandial urges for appropriate action over alleged abduction

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry has said that Azhar Mashwani who, according to him, was abducted in Lahore the day before, has been relocated to Islamabad.

An activist for the PTI who was active on social media was arrested on Thursday, reportedly for criticizing the Punjab police and interim administration for allegedly utilizing harsh methods against party members.

Imran Khan had said “enough is enough” after the detention, accusing the government of kidnapping a party activist.

The former minister of information said that “we have been tracking Mashwani’s location.” He was at the Bedian office of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). He was thereafter relocated to Islamabad.

Fawad said that the party had attempted to have a first information report (FIR) filed against Mashwani’s alleged kidnapping, but that the request had been denied by authorities. We attempted to report it to the Green Town police station, but they failed to do so.

Fawad said that a plea for Mashwani’s release known as a habeas corpus has been submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC). The matter had been scheduled for hearing at the LHC Rawalpindi bench on Monday (March 27), he claimed, despite the registrar’s office raising an objection.

Separately, Mahnoor Mashwani requested in a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial that “appropriate action” be taken against her husband’s kidnapping. A copy of the letter was shared on the PTI’s official Twitter account.

The letter requested CJP Bandial to “recover and release” Mashwani from the illegal and unlawful custody of powerful people and to take suo motu notice of the matter.

Mashwani’s wife stated that she thought her husband had been abducted and being detained illegally and unlawfully by the Punjab police in connivance with the FIA and other law enforcement agencies at the behest of some powerful people with the intention to harm him and his entire family.”