Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency says Shirin Mazari has been taken into custody.
Islamabad, Pakistan:
Former Pakistani human rights minister Shirin Mazari has been “beaten” by police, his daughter said today.
Shirin Mazari, a former cabinet colleague of Imran Khan, has been criticizing the army since the former prime minister was ousted in a no-confidence motion last month.
The charges against Mrs. Mazari have not yet been officially announced. However, local media reported that it could be related to a land dispute on the basis of which a police case was filed in March this year. His daughter Iman Zainab tweeted about his arrest by Mazari-Hajir “anti-corruption” officials.
My mother was beaten and taken away by male police officers. I was just told that the anti-corruption wing had taken him to Lahore.
– Iman Zainab Mazari-Hajir (maImaanZHazir) May 21, 2022
Zainab Mazari-Hajir said, “My mother was beaten and taken away by male police officers. I was only told that she was taken away by the Lahore Anti-Corruption Branch.”
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACE) officials confirmed to Dawn News that Ms Mazari had been taken into custody.
Shahbaz Gill, a former special assistant to the prime minister, told Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists to reach the Kohsar police station in Islamabad, where Ms Mazari was apparently detained.
PTI leaders say the arrests were politically motivated.
Ms Mazari last week alleged that Imran Khan was “neutral” when he was removed from office – in what he called an “American conspiracy”. PTI leaders use the term neutral for the army.
Imran Khan, 69, alleged that he was removed from office through a US-led conspiracy to pursue an independent foreign policy. His supporters have used social media to target the military for doing nothing to save his government.
State institutions such as the judiciary and the military have been sharply criticized. Since then, Imran Khan has held several public rallies in different cities, branding the new government as a “traitorous and corrupt ruler” who has been forced to resign at the behest of the United States.
The United States has repeatedly denied any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)
