RAWALPINDI-
The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued orders to the government to produce the anti-drone activist, who has allegedly been detained by intelligence, at a court hearing on Feb 20.
Kareem Khan was abducted from his residence in the outskirts of the federal capital of Islamabad, a few before he was due to testify before the European parliamentarians, says Khan’s legal team.
According to his lawyer Shahzad Akbar “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.”
Akbar added that the police has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Khan in a report it presented to the court.
“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,” said the lawyer.
Khan ¬–a freelance journalist¬– was fighting a legal case in which he had named the United States government and the former station chief of its intelligence agency for their roles in the US drone campaign in the Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Khan’s brother and teenage son were killed in a drone attack in their native North Waziristan in December 2009.
