LAHORE: A Turkish teacher and his family who were abducted in Pakistan last month have been deported from the country in defiance of a court ruling, a source and a lawyer said Monday, sparking fears for human rights.
Kacmaz Mesut, his wife and two young daughters were picked up in September by plain-clothed officers, blindfolded and bound before being loaded into trucks and taken away, eyewitnesses have said.
Lawyers petitioned the courts on behalf of the missing as fears swirled they were targeted for allegedly having ties to an exiled preacher Ankara blames for last year’s coup attempt.
The father of the family, Kacmaz Mesut, was a former director of PakTurk International Schools and Colleges, private schools popular in Pakistan allegedly backed by US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet group.
Ankara accuses Gulen of masterminding a coup attempt against Erdogan’s government in 2016 — an allegation the cleric strongly denies — and is seeking his extradition from the US.
Pakistani officials refused to comment in the wake of the family’s disappearance.
But a friend of the family who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity Monday — as he feared for his own security — said Turkish police had flown to Pakistan to take custody of them.
“Kacmaz Mesut, his wife and two young daughters were handed over to Turkish police at Islamabad airport on Friday night,” he said.
“I spoke on phone with Kacmaz Mesut’s daughters who confirmed that they have reached Istanbul, but their parents were still in custody while they have been handed over to relatives,” he continued.
The daughters, aged 14 and 10, also said that Turkish police manhandled their father during the flight, he added.
Usama Malik, a lawyer for the family, confirmed the deportation and told AFP it had gone ahead despite a ruling by the Lahore High Court directing authorities not to take any action while the petition was still pending.
Malik said that the judge reprimanded authorities Monday and ordered them to submit an explanation by Tuesday.
He also said that Mesut family had been granted asylum in Pakistan as refugees until November 2018.
There was no immediate comment by Pakistani officials.
Last November Pakistan deported dozens of Turkish teachers tied to PakTurk schools after a visit from Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, sparking small demonstrations in major cities.
Pakistan has had a history of enforced disappearances over the past decade, but they had mainly been confined to conflict zones near the country’s border with Afghanistan, or to restive southwestern Balochistan province.
The apparent abductions of five leftist bloggers earlier this year also sparked fears that such crackdowns are being extended to activists on social media.
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Pakistan deports Turkish teacher and family
Pakistan deports Turkish teacher and family
Explosion at US embassy in Oslo, no injuries: police
OSLO, Norway: Norwegian police reported on Sunday an explosion at the US embassy in the capital Oslo, but said there were no casualties.
The explosion occurred around 1:00 am local time (0000 GMT), the Oslo police department said in a statement, adding they did not know the cause of the blast.
Public broadcaster NRK quoted police incident commander Michael Dellemyr saying the blast hit the entrance of the embassy’s consular section.
“At around 1:00 am we received several reports of an explosion. We arrived shortly afterward and confirmed that there had been an explosion that hit the US embassy,” he told NRK.
“There is minor damage,” he said.
“We are not going to comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion” because “it is very early in the investigation,” he said.
The police statement said investigators were in contact with the embassy about the incident and there was a huge police deployment on site.
Residents near the embassy said they heard a loud blast.
A 16-year-old identified only as Edvard told TV2 that he was watching television when he heard the blast.
“My mother and I first thought it came from our house so we looked around a little, but then we saw the flashing lights outside the window and a ton of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones and police with automatic weapons and helicopters in the air,” he said.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.
But police gave no indication the incident near the embassy in Oslo was connected to the conflict.
The explosion occurred around 1:00 am local time (0000 GMT), the Oslo police department said in a statement, adding they did not know the cause of the blast.
Public broadcaster NRK quoted police incident commander Michael Dellemyr saying the blast hit the entrance of the embassy’s consular section.
“At around 1:00 am we received several reports of an explosion. We arrived shortly afterward and confirmed that there had been an explosion that hit the US embassy,” he told NRK.
“There is minor damage,” he said.
“We are not going to comment on anything related to the type of damage, what it is that has exploded and similar details, beyond the fact that there has been an explosion” because “it is very early in the investigation,” he said.
The police statement said investigators were in contact with the embassy about the incident and there was a huge police deployment on site.
Residents near the embassy said they heard a loud blast.
A 16-year-old identified only as Edvard told TV2 that he was watching television when he heard the blast.
“My mother and I first thought it came from our house so we looked around a little, but then we saw the flashing lights outside the window and a ton of police,” he said.
“There were police dogs and drones and police with automatic weapons and helicopters in the air,” he said.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East over American military operations in Iran and several have faced attacks as Tehran hits back at industrial and diplomatic targets.
But police gave no indication the incident near the embassy in Oslo was connected to the conflict.
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