Daily Times

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has given the Naseerabad police station house officer till December 19 to respond to a petition seeking orders for the authorities concerned to track down the peace activist who is missing since the night of December 2.

The order was passed by Justice Anwaar ul-Haq during the hearing of a petition filed through senior advocate Asma Jahangir on Wednesday.

Petitioner Hamid Nasir Mehmood, brother of Reza Khan, has also sought directives for the Police Department to apprise the court about the circumstances under which the activist was abducted.

The petition submits that Reza is a member of a peace initiative called ‘Aaghaz-e-Dosti’. The purpose of the initiative is to serve as a platform for children from the two countries to connect with one another on the basis of common values of peace.

The petition maintains that Reza has always been a ‘firm believer in the mission of peace’ and had undertaken this task as a volunteer. It says that Reza was last heard and seen on December 2 after which his mobile phone went off and he could not be traced.

The petition says that Reza Khan’s friends looked for him at hospitals and police stations but they were unable to find him.

Filed under Article 199 of the Constitution, the petition has listed the federal and the Punjab governments, the Inspector General of Punjab Police and the Naseerabad SHO as respondents.

In an FIR registered with Naseerabad police, Reza’s brother Nasir Mahmood had stated that he had been abducted by unidentified personnel.

Speaking to Daily Times, renowned activist Diep Saeeda had stated that it seemed like a case of enforced disappearance since all the valuables at Reza’s residence were in place. The only thing taken away by the abductors was the central processing unit (CPU) of his desktop computer.

“He is a harmless activist. It could only be a misunderstanding due to some resemblance in face or name, because Reza never did anything to offend the state. We request his release as soon as possible,” she said.

On the day of his disappearance, Reza Khan had spoken at a public forum on militancy. “Everyone discussed their views and, of course, Raza was very critical,” said his friend, Rahim-ul-Haq, speaking to Reuters.

Earlier this year, four activists vocal on various social media platforms with critical opinions on Pakistan’s internal security policies had gone missing. On their return to their families after a month, a malicious propaganda campaign started against the activists exposing their lives to risks. This led them to move abroad. Two of these activists later said in their media interviews that they were taken by security personnel. They also said that they were tortured during detention. The security agencies had denied these accusations. With additional information from Reuters.

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2017.