Committee probing Okara woman lawyer's kidnapping, torture terms claims 'baseless'

OKARA: An inquiry committee set up by the Punjab Bar Council to probe an incident wherein a woman lawyer recovered from Mailsi claimed she was kidnapped and tortured for days has termed her allegations "false" and "baseless".

A resident of Dipalpur, the lawyer had told police that she had been abducted from her office by unidentified men on August 14. Authorities said they had recovered her in a semi-conscious state, with her hands and legs tied, from a field near Dhoda Road in Mailsi.

However, in a shocking turn of events, the six-member inquiry committee in its latest report said all the allegations she had made in the kidnapping case were lies.

Committee members all men

Members of the committee — all six of whom are men — said the woman registered the case in a bid to trap her rivals. She already filed cases against her opponents earlier as well, they added in the report, which was submitted to the Punjab Bar Council.

The committee's members included Depalpur Bar President Mian Fakhr Hayat Wattoo and Secretary Sheikh Zia-ur-Rehman, Depalpur Bar's former president Altaf Hussain Bukhari, and former members of the Punjab Bar Council Mian Muhammad Sharif Joya Advocate, Chaudhry Riaz Advocate, and Aslam Shad Advocate.

Read more: Okara police team to probe kidnapping, week-long torture of woman lawyer

Back on August 24, the district police officer (DPO) had formally announced the woman's recovery, saying a special team — comprising superintendent of police (SP) for investigation, Shamsul Haq, and two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) — was tasked with searching for and arresting the kidnappers.

Pakistan Bar Council's condemnation

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) had condemned incidents of targeted killings, kidnappings, and incidents of torture of lawyers in a statement.

PBC Vice Chairperson Abid Saqi had said the torture and abduction of the woman lawyer was extremely worrisome.

The woman lawyer was tortured continuously for six days after her abduction, he had added, noting that she was recovered in a very critical condition in the fields in Mailsi.