Shireen Mazari, who served under former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was arrested by police near her home in Islamabad on Friday.
A court in Pakistan’s capital has ordered an investigation into the controversial arrest of a former human rights minister over a decades-old land dispute.
Islamabad Chief Justice Ather Minallah ordered the investigation on Saturday night in response to a request by the daughter of former minister Shireen Mazari.
Mazari, who served in the cabinet-level position under former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was arrested by police near her home in Islamabad on Friday.
Minallah questioned the decision by officials in Islamabad to allow police from a provincial district in Punjab to make the arrest in the capital.
Fawad Chaudhry, a former information minister in Khan’s administration, alleged that Mazari, the main leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, had been a political target of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s new administration under the guise of a territorial dispute. dating from 1972. .
I want to thank everyone who supported me when I was illegally detained and removed from the car without a warrant. My cellphone was stolen! My driver was blindfolded and beaten. He was being driven on the expressway to somewhere in Punjab! Fortunately I am back home safely with my family.
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) May 21, 2022
Hours after Mazari’s arrest, Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz of Punjab province ordered her release and on Saturday night she was brought before the Islamabad court for a hearing.
After she was released, Mazari said in a series of tweets that her mobile phone was taken from her and the driver was beaten and blindfolded.
“I want to thank the Chief Justice of Islamabad for taking timely notice. I have always opposed enforced disappearances and now I know personally what the families of the disappeared go through,” he said.
‘Fascist regime’
Former Prime Minister Khan condemned Mazari’s arrest and accused the Sharif-led government of being a “fascist regime.”
“Shireen is strong and fearless, if the imported government thinks they can coerce her with this fascism, they have miscalculated!” she said she on Twitter.
According to reports, this fascist regime has violently kidnapped the main leader of our party, Shireen Mazari, outside her home.
Shireen is strong and brave, if the imported government thinks they can coerce her into this fascism, they have miscalculated! 1/2#ReleaseDrMazari
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 21, 2022
Mazari has been critical of the Sharif government on social media since the Khan government. was shot down in a motion of no confidence in parliament last month.
Khan, 69, who led the nuclear-armed South Asian country of 220 million people for three and a half years, accused the United States of backing a conspiracy to get him out.
Many of the PTI’s lawmakers have resigned from the body’s lower house in protest and Khan is mobilizing supporters through large public rallies across the country to pressure the government to hold early elections.