The Punjab government informed the Lahore High Court on Tuesday that Umar Dar, the brother of former PTI leader Usman Dar, was currently in the custody of Sialkot police. This update came as the court addressed a petition filed by Usman regarding the alleged illegal detention of his brother by law enforcement agencies.
Earlier, the PTI had claimed that Usman had been abducted in Lahore on Dec 30. This led to the LHC directing the police to recover Umar within 24 hours. The court rejected a report by the Punjab police denying the arrest or custody of Umar and requested a fresh report in light of CCTV footage of the alleged abduction.
It is worth noting that in December, the Dar brothers’ mother Rehana had accused PML-N stalwart Khawaja Asif and the police of raiding their Sialkot home and manhandling her. Asif and Sialkot police had denied the claim.
During the hearing at the LHC, Punjab Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihan, representing the provincial government, stated that Umar Dar is currently in police custody. He claimed that Umar was arrested on January 8 from Gujrat and is now in Sialkot police custody at the Cantt police station.
After the hearing, Umar’s counsel, Abuzar Salman Niazi, confirmed on social media that his client had been “located” and that the Punjab police had admitted before LHC Justice Baqar Najfi that Umar Dar is in the custody of Sialkot police.
On another front, the LHC’s election appellate tribunal accepted Rehana’s appeal against the rejection of her nomination papers from NA-71 (Sialkot-II) constituency, allowing her to contest the upcoming Feb 8 general elections.