Human rights activist goes missing

[Joanne98]

Human rights activist goes missing
AP

Islamabad: A prominent human rights activist who campaigned against alleged detentions by Pakistani intelligence agencies disappeared yesterday, his family and police said.

Khalid Khawaja, chief coordinator of Defence of Human Rights - a group fighting a legal battle for the release of dozens of missing people - disappeared from a residential area of the capital, Islamabad, while on his way to a mosque for morning prayers.

"We fear that he has been abducted by intelligence agents for being vocal against them," his wife, Shamama Khalid, said.

Mohammad Ali, an area police official, said officers had received a complaint from Khawaja's family. He said they had no idea about the man's whereabouts.

"We didn't arrest him, and we don't know whether he is being held by some spy agency or has gone somewhere," Ali said.

Khawaja, a retired intelligence officer also known for his links with militants, has openly opposed Pakistan's support to the United States in its war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10099829.html

[denverbill]

1. I'd hardly call him a 'human rights activist'.

The article states he is a 'a retired intelligence officer also known for his links with militants'. And in Pakistan, militants are Islamic terrorists. Anyone who considers a person associated with al Quiada and their ilk a 'human rights activist' is a nut.

[Joanne98]

2. Yes. A whistleblower would have been more accute.!

:)

[femmedem]

3. But this could be propaganda, no?

"Known for his links with militants"...known by who? That is an unsourced, unverified accusation.
Edit to add: this caught my eye, because I've been reading up on the foreignors swept up by Pakistani security forces in 2002 and sold for bounty to the U.S., ending up in Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps he has been working to secure their release. In my eye, that would make him a human rights activist.