Anti-drone campaigner goes missing from Rawalpindi

Karim Khan was picked up from his residence by 20 armed men.

ISLAMABAD: An anti-drone campaigner has gone missing missing after he was picked up from his residence in the outskirts of Islamabad, his family and lawyer said on Monday.

Karim Khan, originally a resident of North Waziristan, had been an active member of the anti-drone campaign and had organised several protests in Islamabad and Peshawar.

His family said that nearly 20 armed people, eight of them in police uniform, raided his residence at Dhok Mustaqeem on Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi late at night between February 4 and 5 and forcibly took him away.

“We do not have any information about his whereabouts since then," a family member told The Express Tribune.

Senior advocate Shehzad Akbar, who is also an anti-drone activist, confirmed the incident and said that he has filed a habeas-corpus petition in the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench. The court has issued notices to the Punjab police, the government and Secretary Interior for February 12.

A report has also been filed with the area police. The police said they are unaware of the incident.

Karim Khan had recently shifted his family to Islamabad following air strikes against militants around Mir Ali in North Waziristan.

Previously, Khan’s son was killed in one of the drone attacks in North Waziristan.

According to reprieve.org.uk, a UK-based charity that provides legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves, Khan was due to travel to Europe this week to speak to parliamentarians from various European countries.

“We are very worried about Mr Khan's safety.  He is a crucial witness to the dangers of the CIA's covert drone programme, and has simply sought justice for the death of his son and brother through peaceful, legal routes," said Clare Algar,  executive director of Reprieve.