Dr Riaz Ahmed, an associate professor and syndicate member at the University of Karachi (KU), was released on Saturday night after eight hours of alleged “illegal detention” by three police stations in Karachi upon protest and outcry.

Fellow colleague Prof Tauseef Ahmed told Dawn.com that Dr Ahmed left his home earlier today to go to KU but he did not reach the university and his whereabouts were unknown.

He said the KU professor was a member of its syndicate whose meeting was scheduled for Saturday to “decide about the degree issue of a judge of Islamabad High Court (IHC)”.

He added that Riaz had earlier posted on X where he alleged “external pressure” on the KU syndicate regarding the degree case.

Tauseef alleged that Dr Riaz’s “disappearance” could be related to the KU’s syndicate meeting.

He said that rights activists had reached Bahadurabad police station, claiming that Riaz was taken away from there in two police mobiles.

Bahadurabad Station House Officer Naeem Rajput denied the detention of the political activist. Dawn.com also reached out to East Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Farrukh Raza for a response but did not receive any.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Vice Chairperson Qazi Khizar told Dawn.com that Dr Riaz was brought to the Bahadurabad police station where he was released after the protest and pressure by rights activists, KU teachers and students, lawyers and labour leaders and intervention of higher police authorities.

Khizar said that Dr Riaz told them that he was taken away from Tipu Sultan Road when he left his residence to go to KU at 1pm. “He was detained for eight hours,” Khizar said.

Dr Riaz said in his recorded video at the police station that he was supposed to attend the KU syndicate meeting about the degree issue of the IHC judge when he was taken away.

He reiterated the same in a media talk after his release, saying he was due to attend the syndicate meeting to discuss the issue of the IHC judge’s degree. He alleged various procedural anomalies in how the issue was being conducted.

His wife, also in a recorded video from the police station, said that when she came to know from the university at 5pm that her husband had not attended the meeting, she came to the Bahadurabad police station where her husband was present who narrated the whole story to her but later on, he was taken away in police mobiles to an unknown location.

The HRCP condemned the disappearance of the KU professor.

Meanwhile, KU Teachers Society secretary Dr Asad Tanoli announced a boycott of all classes at the university on Monday.

The KU teachers’ body in a statement also expressed concerns over the “mysterious disappearance” of Dr Riaz.

He had also gone missing in 2018, but returned home a day later. He was taken into custody by Rangers in April 2017 for allegedly carrying an unlicensed pistol when he was on his way to the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to hold a press conference to demand the release of over 70-year-old retired professor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London leader Dr Hasan Zafar Arif.

He was picked up minutes before he was to hold a press conference at the KPC to demand proper treatment for the late Dr Arif. Dr Riaz was subsequently released on bail.

The associate professor was also the core organiser of a seminar on Balochistan’s missing persons held at KU in 2015 after a similar session was cancelled by the Lahore University of Management Sciences.