ISLAMABAD: Imaan Mazari, a human rights lawyer and the daughter of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari, was arrested early on Sunday morning from her residence in Islamabad.
In a tweet around 4am, the former human rights minister claimed that policewomen, plainclothes people and “Rangers types” took away her daughter after breaking down the front door of the house the two lived in.
She claimed that the security officials also took away the security cameras installed in the house as well as Imaan’s laptop and mobile phone.
The former minister tweeted that on being asked who they had come for they “dragged” her daughter out, who she claims was not even allowed to change her “night clothes”.
Calling the act an “abduction” and state fascism, Ms Mazari said all of this happened without any warrant or legal procedure.
Earlier, Imaan had tweeted from her account that “unknown persons” were breaking down the security cameras of their home, banging the gate and jumped over it.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad police said in a statement on their Twitter handle that they had arrested former MNA from South Waziristan Ali Wazir and Imaan Mazari.
They claimed that both were wanted for investigation, and that all action will be taken in accordance with the law.
It must be noted that both Imaan Mazari and Ali Wazir had attended and addressed a huge public gathering of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in Islamabad on Saturday.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the arrest of the lawyer, saying that the manner in which the Islamabad police broke into her home, allegedly without a warrant, was unacceptable.
“… This points to a larger, more worrying pattern of state-sanctioned violence against people exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly,” it said in a statement, demanding her immediate release.
The Amnesty International’s South Asia office also said it was “deeply concerned” over the reports of the “arbitrary arrest” of Imaan Mazari. It said that the “circumstances of her arrest violate due process and Imaan’s right to liberty and security of person”.
Amnesty said that if Imaan has been detained for her participation in the PTM jalsa, she must be immediately and unconditionally released “as this would be a violation of her rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression”.
Read more: At least 18 people killed in passenger bus-tanker collision near Pindi Bhattian
