Nisar orders police to recover activist soon

Salman Haider has been missing since Friday evening

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday instructed police in Islamabad to speed up its efforts and utilise all resources for the recovery of teacher, blogger and human rights activist Salman Haider.

“Salman Haider should be recovered as soon as possible with the help of all relevant institutions,” Nisar was quoted as saying in a statement. The minister also asked the police authorities to trace him utilising the network of Safe City project.

A prominent rights activist, writer and a university lecturer, Haider went missing from Islamabad on Friday night. According to his family, Salman left his home in Korang Town at 3:30pm. At 6:45pm, Salman phoned his wife and told her that he would be home by 8:30pm.

Varsity professor and activist Salman Haider goes missing from Islamabad

However, he did not return and texted his wife at around 10:30pm that he was going for some urgent work and that she should collect his car from Korang Town Chowk near the Expressway.

His wife called him on his mobile phone but nobody picked it and later it was switched off. The family also found Salman’s car parked near Korang Town and Expressway. The car was locked.

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The incident was immediately reported to Lohi Bher police station, which registered a kidnapping case against unidentified people on Saturday morning. A police officer told The Express Tribune on Saturday evening that they were yet to examine Salman’s mobile phone record.

“The CCTV cameras showed Salman was alone before he left the car near Korang Town,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2017.