ICJ asks Pakistan authorities to file FIR in Idris Khattak abduction case

International Commission for Jurists (ICJ) has asked Pakistan authorities to immediately lodge a first information report (FIR) and investigate the matter of abduction of human rights activist Idris Khattak.

Khattak, who has documented cases of enforced disappearances, has been abducted by intel agencies from Pakhtunkhwa province since November 13, politician Jibran Nasir said.

"Idris Khattak worker of National Party who has previously worked with @amnesty & @hrw was abducted by Intel agencies 6 days ago on Islamabad Peshawar highway near Swabi Interchange as per his driver who was abducted along with him but released 3 days later #MissingInPakistan," tweeted Nasir.

Khattak has worked for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

In a complaint filed in Anbar police station, Khattak driver Shahsawar said that the activist was on his way from Akora Khattak village to Swabi when about four unidentified men stopped the activist's car at motorway Interchange and kidnapped him on November 13.

According to Dawn, though the complaint was filed by Khattak's driver and family, police did not register a FIR.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) demanded Khattak's "immediate recovery", saying that he had "remained associated with progressive politics since his student days".

"HRCP condemns arbitrary detentions and urges the Pakistani state to fulfill its constitutional obligations towards its citizens," the organisation said in a tweet.

Enforced disappearance and

According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, an entity established by the Pakistani government, 5,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been registered since 2014. Most of them are still unresolved.

Independent local and international human rights organisations put the numbers much higher. Around 20,000 have reportedly been abducted only from Balochistan, out of which more than 2,500 have turned up dead as bullet-riddled dead bodies, bearing signs of extreme torture.

Pakistan's establishment has been long criticised over its practice of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by International bodies and local human rights organisations that dare to speak out on the issue.

In September, activist Gulalai Islamil fled the country to avoid harassment by security agencies and surfaced in the US seeking asylum.