PAKISTAN’S EX-HUMAN RIGHTS MINISTER MAZARI ARRESTED IN ISLAMABAD

Sat 21 May 2022:

Pakistani anti-corruption investigators arrested Shireen Mazari, the country’s former human rights minister, on Saturday.

Mazari, a senior member of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was arrested outside her Islamabad home.

She is accused of illegally obtaining land in her hometown of Rajanpur in Punjab’s northeastern region, according to police.

When the PTI was in control in the province, an investigation into Mazari was begun in March, and a formal case was filed on April 11.

Mazari has been critical of Pakistan’s powerful army, notably on social media, since Khan’s government was deposed in April after a no-confidence vote in parliament.

She accuses the military leadership of being involved in the change of government.

Condemning her arrest, Khan said Mazari was “violently abducted from outside her house.”

“Shireen is strong and fearless, if the imported government thinks it can coerce her by this fascism, they have miscalculated,” he said on Twitter, accusing the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of trying to create “anarchy to avoid elections.”

He said the PTI will protest against Mazari’s arrest, with party spokesman Iftikhar Durrani later announcing plans for “nationwide” demonstrations on Saturday evening.

The PTI is concerned that Khan, who has threatened to lead a march on the capital in the coming days, will be the next target of the government.

Mazari’s release was ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, the son of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, few hours after her detention.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Punjab government, Malik Ahmad Khan, told reporters that the administration had nothing to do with Mazari’s detention, emphasizing that it was part of an ongoing inquiry.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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