SARGODHA: Abdullah Mumtaz Kahlon, a ‘missing’ Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate for the Punjab Assembly constituency, PP-76 (Sargodha), has announced withdrawing his candidature and quitting the party in a video released from an undisclosed location on Wednesday.

Abdullah, son of a senior PTI leader, Chaudhry Mumtaz Akhtar Kahlon, had allegedly gone missing from Islamabad airport on his return from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

A petition was filed before the Islamabad High Court chief justice for Kahlon’s recovery and the court ordered police to trace his whereabouts after checking the CCTV record of the airport and submit a report. However, before submission of the report by the authorities concerned, a video clip was uploaded on social media in which Abdullah Kahlon said he was with his ‘friends’. He also announced withdrawal of his candidature for the PA seat, and parting of ways with the PTI in the video clip.

Kahlon distanced himself from the events of May 9, condemned the episode and said those responsible for it should be punished.

Earlier, a case was registered against Abdullah Kahlon with Sajid Shaheed police station on charges of shouting slogans against sensitive institutions and leading a mob which blocked a road and damaged the state property. He had left the country to avoid his arrest in the case.

Later, he got protective bail from the IHC and returned to the country, but disappeared from Islamabad airport. He was reportedly coming to Sargodha to run his election campaign.

Kahlon’s mother Zahida Parveen is also a candidate from NA-84 (Sargodha).

The nomination papers of Abdullah Kahlon for the NA and PA seats from Sargodh city were rejected by the returning officer. However, the papers of his mother for NA-48 were accepted. Observers of local politics say that the appearance of Kahlon’s video would damage the election campaign of his mother and dishearten party workers in the constituency.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024