Recent Update: A judicial magistrate has placed Waheed Murad in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and granted his two-day physical remand.
Journalist Waheed Murad has allegedly been forcibly taken from his home in Islamabad, his family claimed in a petition filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday.
Wheed Murad’s mother-in-law, Abida Nawaz, filed the petition through her lawyers named Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha. She claimed that unknown individuals who are possibly from intelligence agencies had abducted Waheed Murad from his residence in Sector G-8 at around 2:05 AM. These individuals were reportedly dressed in black uniforms and arrived in two police vehicles.
Abida stated that she witnessed the entire incident and was even mistreated by the abductors. Abida also told Independent Urdu that Murad even slipped his identity card under the door to prove he was a Pakistani citizen and not an Afghan national but the kidnappers still took him away.
“There were around 15-20 men in three vehicles, including a police van and two Vigo trucks,” she said.
The petition named the state, the Ministry of Defence, the Islamabad police chief, and the Karachi Company police station house officer as respondents. It urged the IHC to direct authorities to immediately present Waheed Murad before the court and investigate those responsible for his disappearance. The petition also demanded that the authorities should disclose any charges against Waheed Murad and allow his family and legal counsel access to him.
Possible Reason For Waheed Murad Disappearance
Waheed Murad is a journalist working for Urdu News and has previously worked with News One and Daily Ausaf. He also runs his own news website called Pakistan24.
His disappearance follows his coverage of another recent case where journalist Ahmad Noorani’s two brothers were allegedly abducted from their home in Islamabad. Waheed Murad had been vocal about enforced disappearances and had highlighted these issues in his reports.
Lawyer Imaan Mazari told AFP, “The pattern of his abduction is the same as past cases. The way they broke into his house at night makes it very clear who is behind this.”
