LAHORE:The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has launched a social media campaign seeking attention of the superior courts towards abductions of its social media activists and their close relatives across the country.

The party has posted pictures of its 10 social media activists, including its international media coordinator Ahmed Waqas Janjua who was picked up in wee hours of Saturday from his residence in Islamabad. Mr Janjua has also been a media adviser of PTI founder Imran Khan.

The PTI has also posted a CCTV footage of Ahmed Waqas Janjua’s enforced disappearance by persons in plainclothes and police officials.

“The judiciary has a job to do, and that is to prevent Pakistan from becoming a lawless territory,” the PTI tweeted from its official X handle and urged the judiciary to protect Pakistan and its citizens.

PTI leader Syed Zulfi Bukhari tweeted that Janjua and three other social media activists were abducted early Saturday morning. During the past two weeks, he stated, there had been a serious crackdown on party’s social media activists.

“Since the social media team was constantly doing international reporting of all the atrocities taking place in Pakistan, now my team is being abducted along with others. This continuous deterioration of basic human rights won’t be allowed to continue for long,” he stated.

PTI’s Punjab general secretary Hammad Azhar stated that a panel of senior lawyers had been constituted which would take up the matter of enforced disappearances of party’s social media activists.

He said the undemocratic mindset of the incumbent rulers and their sponsors was fast deteriorating the political scene in the country.

“There will be no use of venting their anger on the abducted social media activists. Release them,” Mr Azhar stated.

The PTI has posted pictures of 10 social media activists and close relatives, who have been abducted from their residences by plainclothesmen.

They are: international media coordinator Ahmad Waqas Janjua, PTI coordinator Malik Rizwan Ahmad and his brother Malik Nauman Ahmad, social media activists Attaur Rehman, Farid Malik, Malik Faizan and Mudasar Chaudhry; PTI leader Shahbaz Gill’s brother Ghulam Shabbir, social media activist Azhar Mashwani’s brothers Zahoor Mashwani and Mazhar Mashwani.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2024