TAXILA: The Attock Police on Sunday registered a case against the kidnappers of Intezar Hussain Panjutha, the lawyer of PTI’s founding chairman Imran Khan.

Hassanabdal police managed to rescue Mr Panjutha in the wee hours of Sunday after a brief shootout with the alleged kidnappers.

However, PTI labelled the development as “scri­pted” and demanded that an FIR be filed against Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, who claimed in the Islamabad High Court on Friday that Mr Panjutha would be recovered within 24 hours, suggesting he was aware of his whereabouts.

In the FIR lodged under sections 324, 427, 342 and 186 of PPC, the complainant, Counter-Terrorism Department Sub-Inspec­tor Asif Iqbal stated that police had set up a checkpoint on G.T. Road near Burhan Chowki and signalled a suspicious vehicle bearing no number plate to stop.

PTI terms ‘encounter’ which led to lawyer’s recovery ‘a hoax’, seeks probe

When the vehicle didn’t stop, a police team chased the car and intercepted it near the Khudda village, he said.

However, the suspects opened fire and two bullets hit the police vehicle, prompting a response, he added.

The two masked attackers then “abandoned” the vehicle and fled the scene.

He further stated that upon inspection, officers found Mr Panjutha inside the vehicle with his legs tied. The lawyer was then taken to the police station, where he gave a statement.

Mr Panjutha allegedly said the kidnappers, who spoke in Pashto, had abducted him from Club Road in Islamabad on October 10, when he was returning from the high court.

They shifted him to an unknown location and “tortured” him.

Mr Panjutha said the abductors had told him that they had demanded Rs20 million ransom from his family for his release.

In a statement, the spokesperson for the Attock DPO said some people were “trying to defame the police by spreading negative propaganda”.

He added that legal action was being initiated against YouTubers running a negative campaign against the police, Dawn.com reported.

Mr Panjutha’s disappearance had led to a legal petition in the IHC, where his colleagues sought his immediate release.

When AGP Awan informed the IHC on Friday that Mr Panjutha was expected to be recovered within 24 hours, Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked that if the lawyer was not found by Saturday, the AGP would be summoned for further proceedings.

‘No question asked’

PTI Chairman Gohar Khan questioned whether anyone would “ever take any such case to its logical conclusion”.

“You abduct, torture and then leave by [the] roadside and yet people say, ‘thank God, he is back’ — no question asked,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

“Will any court ever hold anyone responsible or punish them for it?” Mr Gohar wondered, adding that Mr Panjutha’s recovery without any consequence for the abductors signified the downfall of human dignity and the rise of the “rule of might is right”.

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja uploaded a video statement to X, stating that the encounter in which Mr Panjutha was recovered was a “hoax”.

Former National Asse­mbly speaker Asad Qaiser called on the judiciary to exercise its authority and initiate a comprehensive investigation to determine who was respo­nsible for the “abduction and the mistreatment” of the PTI lawyer.

“If the courts choose to overlook incidents of this nature today, then no individual will be safe tomorrow,” Mr Qaiser said in a post on X. “This issue will continue to spread unche­cked, ultimately affecting all,” he added.

In a post on X, PTI MNA Meher Bano Qureshi alleged that Mr Panjutha was “kept under deplorable conditions and physically assaulted” by authorities.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024