Fawad arrested in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The federal capital police have arrested former federal minister for information and broadcasting, former leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Fawad Chaudhry, from his house under a First Information Report (FIR-728/22) lodged with the Aabpara Police Station on 20th August, 2022 against 18 the-then top leaders of PTI, police sources said.

Fawad Chaudhry, who has left PTI and joined the newly-formed Istehkam-e-Pakistan (IPP) Party after the May 9 violence, was arrested on Saturday in Islamabad, his wife Hiba Fawad Chaudhry said, adding that he had been shifted to some undisclosed location.

The police said that he was wanted to police for violating Section 144 and creating unrest by blocking main roads.

According to the police, 18 top leaders were nominated in the FIR, including Murad Saeed, Faisal Javaid Khan, Shaikh Rashid Ahmad, Asad Umar, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Vawda, Shahzad Waseem, Sadaqat Hussain Abbasi, Shibli Faraz, Fawad Chaudhry, Saifullah Khan Niazi, Sheharyar Afridi, Fiaz-ul-Hassan Chuhan, Firdos Shamim Naqvi, Zahir Abbas Khokhar and Major Ghulam Sarwar.

The FIR said the accused were leading a protest against the government demanding release of Shahbaz Gill.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Magistrate, Islamabad, Ahmed Shahzad Gondal, has ordered the police to present Fawad Chaudhry on Monday.

Advocate Faisal filed an application and requested the court to issue orders for his brother’s recovery. The request was accepted with a hearing held on Saturday in which the judge summoned police report and adjourned proceedings.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Hiba Fawad said, “Fawad has been arrested and taken to an unknown place.”

His brother, Faisal Chaudhry, also confirmed the same alleging that the ex-federal minister was “kidnapped by a few uniformed officials accompanied by plainclothed men while he was having breakfast at his Islamabad residence”. “Even after my repeated insistence, they did not present any arrest warrant or order. I have serious apprehensions about his safety,” he added.

Faisal later submitted a request for his brother’s recovery in the court of Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Shahzad Gondal. It mentioned the federal government and the Kohsar Station House Officer (SHO) as respondents.

He said that Fawad was picked up by officials dressed in Islamabad police uniform and some civilian clothes at 12:30pm on Saturday. He said his brother was not wanted in any case, adding that Fawad was in “illegal custody” and his recovery was within the court’s jurisdiction. Faisal requested that the court should issue orders for his brother’s recovery, otherwise there was a “possibility of irreparable loss” if Fawad was not freed from his illegal detention.

Fawad’s arrest comes a day after PTI leader Asad Qaiser was detained by police in a graft case. Fawad had parted ways with the PTI soon after a countrywide crackdown on the party initiated after the May 9 riots sparked by its chairman Imran Khan’s arrest.

A week before the announcement, an attempt was made to detain Fawad, who had gotten relief from the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but the PTI leader had dashed back to the courtroom and sought blanket relief from the single-member bench in cases registered against him. Fawad had later joined the IPP, a party formed by gathering PTI deserters on one platform after its inception in June.

In July, a Lahore anti-terrorism court granted the former information minister interim pre-arrest bail in two terror cases relating to the May 9 riots.

However, days later, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for him and Imran in a case pertaining to contempt of the electoral body and chief election commissioner.

A month later, he furnished bail bonds worth Rs100,000 in each case before an ATC in the terror cases registered with the Model Town police about an attack on the party office of the PML-N during the May 9 protests.