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Journalist Shakir Mehmood Awan, who was allegedly abducted from his home by law enforcement personnel earlier this week, was released in the wee hours of Sunday and returned home.
A plea was filed with the Lahore High Court (LHC) by Awan’s mother to recover and produce him immediately. The petition was fixed for hearing at 9:00am on Friday by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh.
The LHC on Friday summoned the inspector general of police (IGP) on a petition for the recovery of the “abducted” journalist and YouTuber but Punjab Additional IG Shahzada Sultan appeared in his stead.
Justice Sheikh also directed the Punjab Safe City Authority to present the CCTV footage of the journalist’s abduction from his residence.
Awan’s lawyer, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, remarked that by registering a first information report (FIR), the police had “relieved themselves of their burden”. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor said they were making all efforts to comply with the court order.
Justice Sheikh ordered that Awan be presented in court on Monday and IG Punjab was summoned once again.
Having returned home, Awan, speaking exclusively to Dawn.com, said that people in police uniforms and plain clothes came to his house late on Thursday night and conducted a thorough search of the house.
“More than 20 unidentified people abducted me from my house,” he said. “I told them that I am on bail in an FIA case. I told them to show me warrants against me if there were any, but they did not.
“My mobile phone and other valuables were confiscated from me and I was forcibly taken away with a black cloth over my head and handcuffed,” he added.
“I was kept at an unknown location for three days. I was released at 2:00am in the Cavalry Ground area of Lahore.”
The PTI on Thursday claimed that journalist Awan had been abducted, calling on the government to end the “abhorrent practice of abducting individuals who dare to voice dissent against their propaganda”.
Separately, on the same day, veteran journalist Hamid Mir also said in a post on X that Awan was “missing since last many hours”.
Rana Bilal is a Lahore-based reporter for Dawn News (TV) with over nine years of experience covering legal affairs, justice-sector developments, and environmental issues. He can be found on X at @ranabilaldawn.
