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One of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan’s most senior media advisers has been abducted from his home by police and unidentified armed men, Khan’s party said, days before a British Parliament event to discuss the erosion of democracy in the country.
CCTV footage released by the party showed Ahmed Janjua, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s international media coordinator, being arrested at around 4 a.m. on Saturday.
Neither the government nor the police have commented on the incident and the reasons for Janjua’s arrest have not been disclosed.
On Tuesday, Britain’s House of Lords is due to debate Pakistan’s “democracy in crisis” and the continued detention of Khan, who remains jailed despite being released on bail or acquitted in a number of criminal cases. Khan says all the charges are politically motivated and part of a broader effort by the country’s military and political establishment to remove his party, which won the most seats in this year’s general election, from power.
Tuesday’s event will be hosted by Labour MP Naz Shah and Daniel Hannan, a former Conservative MP who now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Hannan of Kingsclere. Janjua has been actively involved in organising the event and promoting international media coverage.
Janjua’s wife, Farhana Barlas, filed an emergency lawsuit in the Islamabad High Court alleging that around 20 unidentified armed men, wearing face coverings, barged into their home and abducted her husband.
The complaint alleges that the men broke down the main door of the house, searched it without producing a warrant, seized the residents’ mobile phones and then “dragged” Janjua, in one of the most high-profile kidnappings of a PTI leader in recent months.
Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a close aide to Khan and spokesman for the PTI who is due to address parliament on Tuesday, told The Independent that Janjua and three other PTI workers had been kidnapped and “no one knows where they are or who has taken them.”
Buhari said his party believed the kidnapping was linked to a British Parliament event and was planned to avoid attracting international attention.
“This is a serious attack not only on Mr Janjua but on all those abducted, especially the international media team,” he said in a statement.
Khan has been jailed since his arrest in August last year. He was first elected prime minister in 2018 but was ousted in 2022 after a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Khan’s arrest sparked riots across Pakistan, with some of his supporters attacking military facilities. The riots led to the arrest of thousands of PTI officials and led to criminal charges being filed against Khan. Khan was convicted of multiple offences just before the February elections, which barred him from standing in elections and prevented him from registering his political party. Although the candidates ran as independents, most media outlets credited their victories to the party.
The UN Human Rights Committee called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he was being detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law.”
In an opinion, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Khan’s detention “has no legal basis and appears to be intended to disqualify him from voting.”
Sharif’s government denies allegations that it is unfairly targeting the opposition and says criminal charges against PTI activists are justified given attacks on military installations in May last year. Authorities have accused Khan of “inciting violence” and called his rioting supporters “arsonists” who are showing “hostility towards the motherland.”
On Saturday, journalists and activists called for Janjua and others’ safe release.
Freelance journalist Haroon Janjua said: “This is extremely disturbing and tragic. Ahmed Janjua, an international media coordinator and very respectable person, went missing early this morning. He should be released immediately and we hope he makes a safe recovery during these difficult times.”
“Any attempt to restrict the flow of information to the media should be condemned. The government must ensure their safety and return them as soon as possible,” Amjad Ali said.
Earlier this week, the country’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said at a press conference in Islamabad that the move to ban the PTI would be discussed by the cabinet and that the government would take it to the Supreme Court if necessary. This is not the first time the government has announced plans to outlaw Khan’s party.
The Independent has contacted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office for comment.
