LAHORE: Zeenat Shahzadi, a journalist who had gone missing in 2015, returned home on Thursday evening, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. However, the family could not be contacted for any questions about her ordeal. 

“On Friday morning, I received a call from retired Justice Javed Iqbal, who heads the Commission on Enforced Disappearances. He informed me that Zeenat Shahzadi has returned home,” said I.A Rehman, chief of the HRCP.

“I later spoke to her mother. who confirmed to me that she is back.”

Zeenat Shahzadi was abducted over two years ago from Lahore and was reportedly found somewhere on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Justice Javed said “anti-state elements” and “anti-Pakistan secret agencies” were involved in the abduction. He further stated that tribal leaders from Baloc­histan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had played “a big role” in her freedom. 

Zeenat Shahzadi was abducted while she was working on case of an Indian national

According to the case in Lahore High Court, Zeenat went missing on Aug 19, 2015, when two cars intercepted a rickshaw taking her to office. Armed men came out and forced her to accompany them.

Zeenat was due to appear before the Commission of Missing Persons the next day. She had been working on a case related to Hamid Ansari, an Indian citizen, who had gone missing in Pakistan.

She had got in touch with Hamid’s mother in Mumbai and filed a case with the commission. Security agencies later admitted to the commission that Hamid was in their custody.

He was later convicted and jailed by a military court. Within a few days Zeenat went missing.

Zeenat’s family has been under severe stress, especially since she was the only breadwinner. Her younger brother Saddam succumbed to the torment and committed suicide by hanging himself in March last year. 

Her lawyer Hina Jillani was certain that a secret agency was behind the disappearance because police had “conceded they were helpless”.

The Commission of Enforced Disappearances has not convicted anyone to date.

Since it does not allow media coverage and the general public is barred from its proceedings, little is ever known about the fate of missing persons, according to Bushra Khaliq, from the Women In Struggle for Empowerment.

“However the formation of the commission is a good omen. Now for the next move, it is important her family sees that she undergoes counselling to overcome the trauma of the past two years,” she added.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017