Former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry ‘arrested’ in Islamabad: wife
Former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, who is currently a member of the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), was arrested on Saturday, according to his wife.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Hiba Fawad said, “Fawad [has been] arrested and taken to [an] unknown place.”
His brother, Faisal Chaudhry, also confirmed the same to Dawn.com, alleging that the ex-federal minister was “kidnapped by a few uniformed officials accompanied by plainclothed men while he was having breakfast at his Islamabad residence”.
“Even after my repeated insistence, they did not present any arrest warrant or order. I have serious apprehensions about his safety,” he added.
Faisal later submitted a request for his brother’s recovery in the court of Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Shahzad Gondal. It mentioned the federal government and the Kohsar station house officer as the respondents.
He said that Fawad was picked up by officials dressed in Islamabad police uniform and some civilian clothes at 12:30pm today. He said his brother was not wanted in any case, adding that Fawad was in “illegal custody” and his recovery was within the court’s jurisdiction.
Faisal requested that the court issue orders for his brother’s recovery, otherwise there was a “possibility of irreparable loss” if Fawad was not freed from his illegal detention.
The request was accepted with a hearing held today in which the judge ordered summoned a police report and adjourned proceedings.
Fawad’s arrest comes a day after PTI leader Asad Qaiser was detained by police in a graft case.
Fawad had parted ways with the PTI soon after a countrywide crackdown on the party as initiated after the May 9 riots sparked by its chairman Imran Khan’s arrest.
A week before the announcement, an attempt was made to detain Fawad, who had gotten relief from the Islamabad High Court, but the PTI leader had dashed back to the courtroom and sought blanket relief from the single-member bench in the cases registered against him.
He had later joined the IPP — a party formed by gathering PTI deserters on one platform — on its inception in June.
In July, a Lahore anti-terrorism court granted the former information minister interim pre-arrest bail in two terror cases relating to the May 9 riots.
However, days later, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for him and Imran in a case pertaining to contempt of the electoral body and the chief election commissioner.
A month later, he furnished bail bonds worth Rs100,000 in each case before an ATC in the terror cases registered with Model Town police about an attack on the party office of the PML-N during the May 9 protests.