Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir picked up in Karachi: wife

Lawyer and rights activist Jibran Nasir has been "picked up by unidentified men" in Karachi, his wife Mansha Pasha told Dawn.com late Thursday night.

Pasha said they were coming home after dinner around 11pm when they were intercepted. "Around 15 men in plain clothes with pistols surrounded our vehicle and took Jibran forcefully," she said in a video message, requesting for prayers for his recovery. They only kept yelling at us to get out of the car and offered no explanation, she added.

"A white colour Toyota Hilux/Vigo having registered No BF 4356 intercepted and hit our car from the front left side and forced us to stop near Ideal Bakery on 26th Street, Defence Phase 5, Karachi," she narrated in the complaint, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com. The complaint has yet to be filed.

"Another vehicle, a silver Corolla, blocked our vehicle from behind and as such, we were surrounded. Some 15 people along with weapons came out from the vehicles in civil clothes and forced my husband to get out of the car, manhandling him towards the subject vehicle. They then abducted him and took him away and his whereabouts are unknown till now."

She asked for "immediate action for his swift release" and action against those "who abducted my husband".

Nasir, who contested the 2018 general elections from Karachi as an independent candidate, has been vocal in his criticism of the recent state crackdown on the PTI as well as the legal process involving those who allegedly took part in the riots. He was listed in 2013 by the Foreign Policy Magazine amongst three Pakistanis doing inspirational work against sectarian violence.

Last week, senior journalist Sami Abraham was taken away by unidentified men in Islamabad and returned home six days later. His brother Ali Raza had filed a complaint of abduction at Aabpara Police Station. Meanwhile, anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan, who was arrested on May 11 from Sialkot airport by law-enforcement agencies on charges of hate speech after violent protests erupted countrywide in the wake of PTI chief Imran Khan’s arrest and then picked up by 'unknown persons' upon release, is still missing.

'Extremely disturbing, condemnable'

As news of Nasir being 'picked up' spread, members of the civil society as well as rights organisations raised concerns for his safety and called for his immediate recovery.