CHARSADDA/MALAKAND: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan was ‘abducted’ at gunpoint near the exit of Peshawar Motorway on Monday, his personal secretary and party alleged.
The minister, according to his staff and leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, was heading to Peshawar to attend a meeting when armed men in police uniforms rounded him up at the exit of Peshawar Motorway.
A video shared on social media platforms showed masked men approaching the minister’s car before one of them fired at the tyres.
In a statement posted on X, Provincial Minister for Information Shafi Jan said the abduction of Fazal Shakoor was a direct attack on the Constitution, law, democracy and public mandate.
‘We will not be intimidated by such tactics.
Snatching away the right to peaceful political struggle is the height of fascism, but we will continue to fight for our rights while remaining within the bounds of the Constitution and law,’ he said.
A senior leader of PTI told Dawn that they were clueless about the abducted minister. He said that police, chief secretary and administration were supporting the ‘other side’ and not the KP government.
This was second such incident involving a sitting provincial minister after registration of FIR against Minister for Communication and Works Shakil Khan for opening fire on intelligence agency personnel on Sunday.
Later, PTI workers also staged a protest at Farooq Azam Chowk in Charsadda on Monday against the alleged arrest of Minister Fazal Shakoor Khan and demanded his immediate release.
They alleged that the minister was taken into custody at gunpoint. They described the action as a failure of federal government.
The protest was addressed by PTI former district president Aziz Khan, Gul Nawaz and other leaders.