LAHORE: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought a report from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about the whereabouts of PTI social media activist Azhar Mashwani, as police investigators have been clueless for the past five days, despite the registration of an abduction case on a court order a couple of days ago.

According to his family, Mr Mashwani was travelling to Zaman Park in a cab from his home on March 23 when he went missing.

Mazharul Hassan, the elder brother of the PTI activist told Dawn that a preliminary police investigation failed to trace his whereabouts despite the passage of five days. He said the law enforcement agencies should produce his brother in a court of law if he had done anything wrong.

He said his parents were cardiac patients and were worried about their missing son.

It was only after a sessions court issued notices to the Lahore police chief on a petition seeking the registration of a case over his alleged abduction that the Green Town police registered a case against unidentified persons on March 25.

Mr Hassan told Dawn they also approached the LHC Rawalpindi bench and filed a petition against the FIA for the recovery of his brother. He said the family still did not know the whereabouts of his brother and each passing day was increasing their worry about his safety.

Earlier in the day, Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz of the LHC issued notices to the FIA cyber crime wing director and asked the relevant authorities to produce the PTI social media activist on Tuesday (today).

The petitioners sought early recovery of Mr Mashwani, impleading both the FIA and Lahore police as respondents in the case.

Malik Asad in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023