Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Friday that its media manager, Ahmed Waqas Janjua, had returned home after spending 25 days in detention on terrorism and cybercrime charges.
Last month, PTI reported that Janjua had been “abducted” from his home at night by armed men who seized his laptop, mobile phone, and other electronic devices. He was later brought before an anti-terrorism court, where police claimed to have found explosive materials in his possession at the time of his arrest.
Janjua was also charged under the country’s cybercrime laws and allegedly stated during the investigation that PTI’s social media team was working to build an “anti-state narrative” with assistance from internal and external forces.
However, PTI dismissed this as a “fake confession,” arguing that it was unclear how the statement was obtained and noting that it would likely be inadmissible in court.
“Ahmed Janjua is back,” PTI announced in a social media post. “PTI’s central media department member & international media coordinator @AhmedWJanjua was abducted & disappeared.”
The post added, “After the court intervened, he was presented and falsely charged with terrorism. The court granted bail, but authorities initially refused to release him. Finally, after 25 days of illegal detention, Ahmed Janjua has returned home.”
PTI has accused the government of filing legal cases against its leaders and members as part of a state-backed crackdown, which includes bans on rallies and arrests of party members and supporters. The government, however, denies targeting opposition parties.
Imran Khan, PTI’s founding leader and former Prime Minister, has been in jail for over a year. Although all four convictions against him ahead of the parliamentary elections in February have been suspended or overturned, he remains imprisoned on new charges. Khan maintains that the legal cases against him are politically motivated to keep him out of politics and undermine PTI’s popularity.
