Sawt Falasteen - Arrests, intimidation stoke fear in Pakistan's politics

"It's not easy to be a politician in Pakistan," says Maryam, the wife of an MP from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who was briefly detained.

After her husband fled into hiding, Maryam was taken at gunpoint into a car by "unknown people" to be questioned, and has lived since in "constant fear".

Pakistani politics has been scarred for decades by coups, arrests, jailings and assassinations, and while all parties have experienced repression at some time, Khan and PTI have been at the centre of a crackdown by authorities that intensified in 2023.

Dozens of its leaders have been rounded up or forced underground, and thousands of supporters arrested.

Maryam, who spoke under a pseudonym for fear of reprisals, had thought that only her husband would be targeted.

But she was wrong -- weeks later she says she was surrounded in her car and forced into another vehicle.

"They questioned me about my husband as they continued to drive, then they released me," she told AFP. "I live in constant fear for my family and my children."

- Unknown men, unknown locations -

Pakistan's shadowy intelligence agencies have long been accused by human rights groups of "disappearing" activists, dissidents and journalists as a pressure tactic.

Khalid, a PTI member who spoke under a pseudonym, told AFP he has been living with "post-traumatic effects" since he was "abducted" in July.

"I'm afraid that again strangers will break down my door at four in the morning and enter my house," said Khalid, who says his friends will no longer speak to him on the phone for fear of being recorded.

After a week without knowing where he was or who was holding him, he was brought before a court that remanded him in custody for more than a month.

Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, who regularly defends activists, said the unknown men are "always intelligence agencies, or the military, with the support of the police and paramilitaries".

While there is "complete impunity for the state's disproportionate response", she said PTI leaders have also failed to protect its workers in the recent crackdown.

AFP has sent requests for comment to the Interior Ministry.

- Locked in the same cell -

Khan was dismissed as prime minister in a vote of no confidence in 2022 as the economy nosedived and he reportedly fell out of favour with the powerful military -- the country's kingmakers.

The cricketing legend launched an unprecedented campaign against the military, accusing them of interfering in politics.

His supporters mobilised in frequent and sometimes violent demonstrations, with some swept up in secretive military courts.

Khan was slapped with dozens of criminal charges which landed him in jail -- cases he says were designed to keep him from contesting February's general election.

This week, more than 10,000 supporters brought the capital Islamabad to a standstill in a demonstration calling for his release.

Nearly 1,000 protesters were arrested, and five security forces killed in the clashes.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz rules in coalition with numerous smaller parties, says the government is fighting "anarchy and terrorism".

"When political parties or their leaders come into conflict with the establishment they are subject to the wrath of the state," political scientist and television anchor Arifa Noor told AFP, adding the current crackdown "may be more aggressive".

The military, which has ruled the country for nearly half its history since independence in 1947, has repeatedly said it no longer interferes in politics.

Prime Minister Sharif's party has experienced similar censorship and lock-ups in the past -- his brother Nawaz, a three-time PM, was jailed and spent nearly a decade in exile after being ousted in a 1999 coup.

The country's planning minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday criticised Khan for playing the victim, saying: "All the ministers, the prominent politicians have been thrown in prison."

- 'Not limited to politics' -

Azhar Qazi Mashwani, who helped manage PTI's social networks, went into exile in London after being held for eight days in 2023 by those he calls "unknown men in plain clothes".

"I was held in an unknown location, I was put through a lie detector test and questioned about the structure and supposed funding of the PTI communications team," he told AFP.

His father and brothers, who he says have no connection with the party, were also held.

In Islamabad, Saba says her brother Saboor disappeared for two days in October when PTI held demonstrations near to their home.

"He has nothing to do with politics, he is not even on social networks," she said. AFP is not giving her full name or her brother's for their own safety.

"It is no longer limited to politics, anyone can be arrested at any time."

A.Suleiman--SF-PST