Feb 20 set as deadline: Produce anti-drone campaigner, states LHC

Karim Khan was active against drone attacks, in which he had lost his son and a nephew.

RAWALPINDI:

Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Wednesday issued notices to security agencies to submit their reply in a case related to disappearance of an anti-drone activist as it ordered to present the man at the next hearing.

LHC Justice Shehzad Ahmad Khan was hearing a plea
filed by the family of Karim Khan, who went missing a few days back.

During the proceedings, the police denied their involvement in the disappearance. “Khan was picked up by persons wearing police uniform but he is not in our custody,” the police report claimed.

On this, the court sought reply from all intelligence agencies and ordered them to present Khan on February 20, the next date of hearing.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the petitioner’s lawyer Shehzad Akbar said he did not think the security agencies would present the man as per the order of the court. “Let us see what the intelligence agencies say in their reply on next hearing. But I think they will not produce Khan [even] if [he is] in their custody,” he said.



Karim Khan – a freelance journalist who also worked for foreign news agencies and Aljazeera – was active against drone attacks, in which he had lost his son and a nephew.

He had recently shifted his family to Islamabad following air strikes against militants around Mir Ali in North Waziristan. Khan was due to deliver a speech before European Parliament about the drone strikes.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.