ISLAMABAD: Police has had no success in its efforts to trace activist Raza Mahmood Khan, who went missing from Lahore earlier this month, a senior police official told the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights.

“We have traced his last known location, and are still making efforts to find him,” Deputy Inspector General of Lahore Police (Investigation) Sultan Ahmad told the committee on Thursday.

Mr Khan went missing on Dec 3, and was reported missing by his brother three days later. An FIR was registered on Dec 5, according to DIG Ahmad.

Committee chairperson Senator Nasreen Jalil observed that the increasing numbers of missing people was becoming a cause for concern and asked the official if the manner of Raza Khan’s disappearance was similar to the way a number of bloggers had disappeared earlier this year.

“There are no eyewitnesses who can help police. We are trying to obtain footage from privately-installed security cameras in different locations to find a clue,” the DIG told the committee.

The issue of Raza Khan’s disappearance was raised several times by members in previous committee meetings. However, lawmakers did not press the police officer for details when he seemed reluctant to divulge information.

But answering parliamentarians’ questions, Mr Ahmad said that all security agencies – the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Military Intelligence (MI) and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) – as well as the Ministry of Interior had been approached for assistance, but all had expressed inability to help with the case.

When PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar recalled how State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry had recently told the Senate that Raza Khan was in the custody of security agencies, the DIG said he was unaware of such a claim.

“We are doing our best to trace the missing person,” he said, but did not divulge further details of progress made in the investigation so far.

The committee was told that the victim was a resident of the Gulberg area and ran an NGO called Aghaaz-i-Dosti, an initiative for regional peace, with a particular focus on relations with India. Committee members were also informed that Raza Khan was active on social media websites, particularly Facebook.

“He was critical of the state in some of his ‘objectionable’ posts on Facebook,” DIG Ahmad told the committee.

The committee demanded to be kept in the loop on any progress made in efforts to trace out Raza Khan.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2017