ISLAMABAD: In a startling revelation, the outspoken Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Shireen Mazari on Tuesday claimed she was asked to appear at Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters after she as the human right minister presented a bill in the National Assembly pertaining to enforced disappearances in the country.
While speaking to media at the National Press Club, where she also talked about her recent arrest, she said that she had always taken a position against enforced disappearances.
“One evening I got a phone call asking me to appear at the ISI headquarters...I went there and told them that we had signed international conventions,” she recalled.
In the same breath, she continued that after the bill was tabled in the National Assembly, it was referred to the interior committee where some “invisible” shadows tried to change the clauses.
She said that the amendments were passed by the assembly, regretting that it disappeared on the way to the Senate, adding “my position is quite clear about enforced disappearances and my leader Imran Khan had also voiced his opposition from day one which is evident from his frequent visits to Amna Janjua’s protests”.
“Our government had also drafted a bill on enforced disappearances in the country…Imran Khan [the then prime minister] had also wanted the bill to be tabled in the parliament and had asked the ministries to see whether it came under their rules of business,” she added.
We have also taken a position against this in our manifesto and will take the same position in the next one, she said, adding, but there are so many powers that stop bills from being passed.
“The journalist protection bill was also passed with “great difficulty”…you’ve no idea how it was passed, what obstacles we faced,” she added.
Dr Mazari, who once was thought to be quite close to the all-powerful military establishment of the country also hinted at writing a book revealing all the secrets she had been holding close to her chest.
Talking about her recent arrest, she asserted that it was a case of kidnapping and disappearance, adding “they dragged me from the car, put me in a white Vigo and headed towards the motorway.”
She alleged that officials also seized her phone and wallet, adding the officials were trying to take her somewhere in Punjab.
She claimed that the officials were looking for a magistrate to complete the documentation as they did not have any grounds to arrest her.
Mazari said that her daughter, Barrister Imaan Mazari, was understandably upset over the events and took the name of army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during a presser.
“Obviously my daughter was upset as her mother had disappeared. She did a presser where she took the name of General Bajwa and used a certain word. Now petitions and FIRs are being filed, saying she is against the national interest and that it is terrorism,” she added.
On a lighter note, Dr Mazari said that “it seems like the [military] establishment is suffering from Mazari phobia at the moment.”
Speaking about the corruption case against her, she termed it political victimisation, saying she was never informed of the charges or asked to provide clarification and that her name only surfaced during the investigation process.
She said that one of her acquaintances, a former official of Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), had advised her to go easy on the establishment.
She quoted the official as saying that sham cases were being created against her.
“He said he stopped them when he was in the ACE, saying they were false and should not be pursued. He then received a phone call telling him to not get involved,” she added.
She once again questioned why officials seized her phone following her arrest which she believed, the snatching of the phone means the “establishment would want information but the ACE would have not gotten any information from my phone”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022