Summary
- PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) will hear a petition on Wednesday seeking the recovery of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan, whose whereabouts remain unknown following an alleged abduction.
- The petition was filed on Tuesday, a day after Fazal Shakoor and two other people travelling with him were allegedly taken away by unidentified armed men near the M-1 motorway toll plaza in Peshawar.
- KP Information Minister Shafi Jan also condemned the incident in a statement on social media, describing the alleged removal of Fazal Shakoor as a serious issue involving constitutional and democratic rights.
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) will hear a petition on Wednesday seeking the recovery of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan, whose whereabouts remain unknown following an alleged abduction.
The petition was filed on Tuesday, a day after Fazal Shakoor and two other people travelling with him were allegedly taken away by unidentified armed men near the M-1 motorway toll plaza in Peshawar.
A kidnapping case has also been registered at Chamkani police station on the complaint of the minister’s brother, retired Major Anwar Aziz.
According to the first information report, Fazal Shakoor was travelling from Charsadda to Peshawar to attend a session of the provincial assembly. His driver, Qaiser Khan, and police constable Mujahid were also in the vehicle.
The complaint states that armed men wearing black uniforms and plain clothes intercepted the vehicle near the motorway toll plaza. The attackers allegedly fired at the vehicle’s tyres before forcing the occupants out and taking them to an undisclosed location.
The official vehicle was reportedly left at the scene.
The petition, filed through lawyer Bashir Khan Wazir, asks the high court to direct police and other law enforcement agencies to recover the provincial minister.
It also seeks the formation of a high-level inquiry committee comprising senior police officials to investigate the incident and determine the whereabouts of Fazal Shakoor.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general, Peshawar Capital City Police Officer, SSP Operations and other officials have been named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioner has further requested that if the minister is being held by any state institution or other authority, he should be presented before the court and released if his detention is found to be unlawful.
The case has been fixed for hearing on September 23 before a division bench comprising Senior Puisne Judge Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel.
FIR registered over alleged abduction
The FIR invokes Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which relates to kidnapping or abduction.
A video circulated by PTI purportedly shows masked armed men approaching the minister’s vehicle. One individual appears to open the car door while another fires towards the vehicle’s tyres.
The authenticity and circumstances surrounding the footage have not been independently established.
PTI announced a protest in Charsadda on Tuesday against what it described as the minister’s alleged abduction. Party leaders said they would announce their next course of action during the demonstration.
PTI Charsadda president and MPA Arshad Umarzai condemned the incident and criticised the provincial government over the minister’s alleged detention.
KP Information Minister Shafi Jan also condemned the incident in a statement on social media, describing the alleged removal of Fazal Shakoor as a serious issue involving constitutional and democratic rights.
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