Farrukh’s wife seeks CJP’s help for recovery of ‘missing’ husband

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Farrukh Habib’s wife has written to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa for taking notice of her husband’s ‘enforced disappearance’ and ensuring his immediate recovery.

She stated in her letter Farrukh was illegally picked up by unknown men from Gwadar on Sept 28, 2023, but he had not yet been presented in front of a magistrate in any court, in a clear violation of his fundamental right to fair trial and access to justice.

She expressed apprehension that since the crackdown intensified significantly post-9 May 2023, fearing that her husband was being tortured and humiliated with the objective to change his political loyalties, as there was a calculated method behind that madness, which had happened to all political leaders who had been abducted so far.

“Farrukh, who is PTI President West Region, is a well-respected and law-abiding citizen of Pakistan, who has been member of National Assembly from August, 2018 till April, 2022 and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting,” she wrote.

Farrukh’s wife feared that it appeared every effort under the state supervision had been employed to make sure her husband becomes and stays as a missing person.

As it is well established and documented now, she wrote, the current regime was perpetrating grave human rights violations and carrying out unprovoked brutal crackdown on political activists, workers, and leaders due to which nearly all PTI workers and leaders were forced into hiding to keep themselves safe.

“We had filed a habeas corpus petition in the Lahore High Court for recovery of Farrukh, which directed the IGP Punjab to submit a report on his whereabouts. However, the petition was progressing at snail’s pace and so far no progress had been noticed,” she lamented.