Former minister Shireen Mazari said on Saturday that a “heavily armed raiding party” of the Islamabad police had surrounded her house at 1am and enquired about her daughter, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, and son-in-law, Hadi Ali Chattha.
“At 1am this morning, a heavily armed raiding party of ICT police from Secretariat thana (police station) surrounded my home and asked for Imaan and Hadi. They were not there, and we informed them of the same. Cops said they had an FIR (first information report) against them and they should report to the thana. Eventually they left,” she posted on X.
In a subsequent post, she referred to a protest at the Islamabad High Court yesterday, where Imaan — who is a lawyer and rights activist — and others had raised slogans in support of judicial independence.
The lawyers had staged a protest on the premises of the IHC to oppose the suspension of Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from judicial work.
Islamabad Bar Council member Aleem Abbasi, ex-president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) Riasat Ali and Imaan were prominent among the demonstrators.
However, tensions flared when — after the demonstration — PTI-affiliated lawyers, including Intizar Hussain Panjotha, Naeem Panjotha, and Fatehullah Barki, confronted IHCBA President Wajid Ali Gilani. Witnesses reported the PTI lawyers pushed Gilani, leading to an altercation, before IHCBA Secretary Manzoor Ahmed Jaja and other lawyers intervened.
The IHCBA president, accompanied by the secretary and bar council Vice Chairman Naseer Ahmed Kayani, later condemned the incident and announced that a reference would be sent to the bar council seeking the registration of a terrorism case against the lawyers concerned, as well as the cancellation of their licences.
He alleged that a group of lawyers, including Imaan, physically assaulted him, dragged him, and branded him a traitor. Gilani further claimed that they were armed and pressured him to support demands for filing cases against PTI founder Imran Khan, which he refused. Jaja also claimed that the protest had been held without a formal requisition to the bar, in violation of due procedure.
Subsequently, police booked Imaan, Hadi and several PTI-linked lawyers under anti-terror laws.
Referring to the episode, Shireen Mazari posted on X that “all videos of the IHC protest yesterday show clearly the FIR charges are absolutely false. Eye witness accounts reveal the same. But persecution of Imaan and Hadi has become a daily routine by the state.”
Imaan, who is known to be vocal in her criticism of Pakistani authorities, recently also approached inquiry committees of the IHC and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against IHC Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar.
The lawyer announced the development on X, saying that she had filed a complaint against the judge before the IHC’s workplace harassment committee and a reference for misconduct before the SJC.
This followed her altercation with Justice Dogar during a hearing earlier this month and his subsequent remarks over the exchange, which Imaan described as “sexist”.
Meanwhile, she and husband Hadi also face charges of alleged anti-state activities on social media.
Imaan was also among the voices calling for a probe into the allegations made by six IHC judges against interference in judicial affairs by the country’s intelligence apparatus in March.
The same month, an Islamabad court had issued arrest warrants for Mazari and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leaders Ali Wazir and Manzoor Pashteen due to their repeated failure to appear in a case concerning an alleged anti-state march.
This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media can sometimes be inaccurate. We will strive to ensure timeliness and accuracy by relying on credible sources, such as concerned, qualified authorities and our staff reporters.
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