Pakistan's ex-human rights minister arrested in capital

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Anti-corruption authorities in Pakistan on Saturday arrested Shireen Mazari, the country’s former human rights minister.

Mazari, a senior member of ex-Premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was taken into custody outside her residence in the capital Islamabad.

Police said she faces charges of illegally acquiring land in her native district of Rajanpur in the northeastern Punjab province.

An inquiry against Mazari was launched in March and a formal case was lodged on April 11, when the PTI was in power in the province.

Mazari has been critical, particularly on social media, of Pakistan’s powerful army ever since Khan’s government was ousted when he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament in April.

She accuses the military leadership of being involved in the change of government.

Condemning her arrest, Khan said Mazari was “violently abducted from outside her house.”

“Shireen is strong and fearless, if the imported government thinks it can coerce her by this fascism, they have miscalculated,” he said on Twitter, accusing the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of trying to create “anarchy to avoid elections.”

He said the PTI will protest against Mazari’s arrest, with party spokesman Iftikhar Durrani later announcing plans for “nationwide” demonstrations on Saturday evening.

The PTI has expressed fears that Khan, who has also threatened to lead a march on the capital in the coming days, could be the government’s next target.

Hours after her arrest, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, the son of Prime Minister Sharif, ordered Mazari’s release.

Earlier, Malik Ahmad Khan, a spokesman for the Punjab government, told reporters that the government had nothing to do with Mazari’s arrest, stressing that it was in connection with an ongoing investigation.​​​​​​​