Abdullah Mumtaz Kahloon landed at the Karachi airport as a member of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and a candidate contesting the national polls. Then he went missing. But when he appeared on a video nearly 24 hours later, Kahloon had given up his dreams of contesting the elections, holding Khan’s supporters responsible for the 9 May violence last year. What panned out between his sudden disappearance and virtual appearance was full of drama and only characteristic of the chaos that polls bring to Pakistan.
Early in the hours of 9 January, Kahloon went ‘missing’ from the Islamabad Airport upon landing. The politician and barrister, who was contesting for elections from PP-76 Sargodha, was soon claimed to have been abducted by supporters on Twitter.
Was Abdullah Kahloon arrested?
Several videos emerged on X, alleging that Kahloon was arrested by men in ‘plaintiff clothes’, despite having a protective bail. “Is this really our
Pakistan?” questioned one social media user, while posts from some Pakistani lawyers called it “utter lawlessness and hooliganism” to flick the PTI candidate from the airport. Some posts said that Kahloon’s arrest meant PTI members were not being allowed to campaign freely ahead of the 8 February general elections.
German lawyer Nick Wolfe also took to X to direct attention to Kahloon’s detention. Wolfe said that the politician was apprehended by ‘Pakistani authorities’ and that even his family and lawyers weren’t aware of his whereabouts. He went on to call the arrest politically motivated, considering “political rivalries in Pakistan are particularly heightened at present.”
Kahloon was facing charges in Sargodha, for which he had received protective bail from the Islamabad High Court. The court, while granting him bail in an order on 8 January, had also said that “the petitioner shall not be arrested upon landing at Islamabad Airport till he surrenders himself before this court on the next date.”
When the politician, who was supposed to be presented before the Islamabad High Court on 9 January failed to turn up, his lawyer Babar Awan alleged that he had been picked up by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the court’s orders.
ARY News reported that Justice Aamer Farooq, the presiding judge for Kahloon’s case, was ‘furious’ over his arrest despite court orders.
Additional attorney general Munawar Iqbal Duggal, however, said that the FIA had not apprehended Kahloon and instead had escaped from the airport’s immigration counter. It was only after journalist Zulaqarnain Haider posted Kahloon’s video late at night on 9 January that speculations around his disappearance were put to rest.
“I want to tell you that because of my health, I was unable to appear at court today,” Kahloon is heard saying in the video. He also clarified that the rumours about his disappearance and apprehension at the Islamabad Airport are fake and that he is currently staying with a friend.
The video was soon picked up by media outlets, although there has been no official clarification from Kahloon on his social media accounts. His X bio still says ‘PTI ticket holder for PP-76’.