(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
An activist of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), Imran Khan, was taken into custody on Friday by authorities after delivering a speech at the Orakzai tribal district.
The activist had told the public gathering that the demands of the PTM were legitimate and that the tribal areas had suffered greatly in the course of the war on terror.
Later in the day, a group of plain clothes security officials had arrived at the residence of the activist in Islamabad’s Bani Gala area and taken him away.
“They just came in, and said that he needed to accompany them to their facilities for some basic questions about where he was earlier in the day and why he had said certain things” said Muhammad Salahuddin, who is part of the Bani Gala staff. “When I protested and asked them to show some identification, they slapped me a bit.”
“Seeing this, Khan Saheb immediately agreed to be put in the back of the vehicle that they had brought, on the condition that they don’t hit him as well,” he continued. “After they also started hitting him, Khan Saheb said that his condition had changed and now he would come along on the condition that they don’t hit him too much.”
“After being hit a little too much as well, Khan Saheb said he would not be putting up any conditions, which is when they stopped hitting him,” he said.
Human rights activists across the country condemned the incident harshly and said that the government is showing criminal silence on the issue.
“Imran Khan Niazi is a citizen of the country and has all the rights that the constitution has given him,” said Ammar Ali Jan, a Lahore-based academic and activist.
Civil society activists have started a petition on Change.org and have written to Human Right Minister Dr Shireen Mazari to intervene.
