ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday ordered the government to produce an anti-drone activist Kareem Khan, who is missing after being kidnapped from his house in Rawalpindi, on February 20.
Khan, whose brother and teenage son were killed in a US drone attack that targeted his home in the tribal area of North Waziristan in December 2009, was seized at his home by 15 to 20 men in the early hours of February 5 and has not been heard from ever since, , his lawyer Shahzad Akbar said.
His lawyer said that Kareem Khan was apparently detained by the country’s intelligence agencies, just days before he was due to testify before European parliamentarians.
“The Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court has sought reply from the intelligence agencies through the government, ordering the intelligence agencies to produce Kareem Khan on Feb 20 or give the reason behind his arrest in writing to the court,” his lawyer told a foreign news agency.
Akbar said that the police also produced its report before the court “denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khan”.
“The police in their report did mention that Khan was picked up by men wearing police uniform but they said it was not them,” he said.
“I am not very hopeful that the intelligence agencies will produce Khan or tell the court why they have arrested him, we know how the intelligence agencies work in this country; they are answerable to no one.”
Khan, who was fighting a legal case in which he had named both the CIA’s former station chief and the government for their roles in the US drone campaign in the country’s tribal areas, was due to travel to Europe this Saturday to speak with German, Dutch and British parliamentarians about his personal experience with drone strikes and the impact they are having on his country.
