PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police (IGP) to hold an inquiry into the “abduction” of provincial minister Fazal Shakoor Khan and take steps for his recovery.

During a hearing into a petition filed by Mr Fazal’s brother Anwar Aziz, a bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel declared that since the offence had allegedly taken place within the territorial jurisdiction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the IGP should look into it and inform the court about the minister’s whereabouts.

It said the police chief should take all possible steps for the recovery of the minister and produce a report within a week.

The bench later fixed the next hearing for Oct 1.

Seeks information about Fazal Shakoor’s whereabouts

The petition challenged the minister’s alleged abduction by unidentified armed men on Sept 21 near Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway Toll Plaza here.

Lawyers Bashir Khan Wazir, Ali Zaman and Sarwar Muzaffar Shah appeared for the petitioners, whereas the provincial government was represented by assistant advocate general Mohammad Adnan Sher.

Advocate Mohammad Yousaf Orakzai appeared for the respondents, including KP IGP, Peshawar capital city police officer (CCPO) and others, along with DSP (Legal) Nasrullah Khan and investigating officer (IO) Haleem Gul.

The petitioner has sought the recovery of his minister brother, who, according to him, was abducted in broad daylight from a thickly populated area near the entry and exit point of the motorway.

The local police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons.

During the previous hearing, the court had summoned the IO for responding to the petition. The IO later revealed that the two people accompanying the minister had safely returned home and recorded their statements under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

He added that according to those statements, some 14 people abducted the two men and took them to an unidentified place before releasing them but the minister remained in custody.

The petitioner’s counsel said that police checkpoints were present on the other side of the road, but no action was taken by them to thwart the abduction of the minister.

Advocate Wazir wondered that when a provincial minister was not safe, what the common man’s situation would be.

He requested the court to summon the police chief on the matter.

Lawyer Zaman said that while the minister had been abducted, similar incidents had been occurring for the last couple of days.

The petitioner sought the court’s orders for the respondents (police officers) to immediately ascertain and disclose the whereabouts of Fazal Shakoor and produce him before the court to address questions about the legality of the detention.

He said in case the minister was found to be illegally or unlawfully detained by any person, authority or official, the court should direct his immediate release in accordance with law.

The petitioner also requested the court to order respondents, including senior police officers, to take immediate and effective steps for the safe recovery of the minister.

He also sought directives to the IGP and Peshawar CCPO to constitute a high level, impartial and competent investigation team for tracing the minister and investigating hisalleged interception, abduction and illegal detention.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026