World News | 'Missing' Ex-army Officer and Imran Khan's Supporter Reaches London

Islamabad, Apr 21 (PTI) A retired senior army officer and an ardent supporter of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday resurfaced in the UK, a day after he was reported missing by his family.

On Wednesday, Sabine Kayani, wife of Pakistan Ex-Serviceman Society (PESS) former spokesman Major (retd) Adil Raja, in a tweet said she was unable to establish contact with him and sought people's help to trace his whereabouts.

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“I've been desperately trying to contact my husband @soldierspeaks but haven't been able to trace him. Neither has anyone else. Does anybody have any information about him? Any help will be most appreciated,” she tweeted.

Kayani said some men claiming to be from the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) raided the house of her mother-in-law while Raja was not there.

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"Her house is hardly 100 metres away from the Army house. Shortly after this we lost contact with my husband," she tweeted, sharing a video that showed armed men standing on a staircase, purportedly outside an apartment.

Social media has been abuzz over Raja's "disappearance" since then.

A day later, Raja tweeted that he “reached London” and warned that he will follow the policy of no-holds barred in case of any harm to his mother or relatives.

"There is a lot to say, but everything will be spoken about in time," he said. "After this, if my mother and loved ones are hurt even slightly, I won't hold back."

He also shared a copy of his complaint registered on April 19 with the Punjab Police stating that he was given "life threats".

Raja is very active on social media, especially Twitter, and an ardent supporter of former prime minister Khan. He was highly critical of the removal of the Imran Khan-led government and in one of his tweets had called for the re-election of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief as prime minister.

"Let's bring back #ImranKhan with 2/3rd Majority InshAllah," the former army officer tweeted on April 10.

Raja was equally against the appointment of Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister. The day Shehbaz had taken oath as the prime minister, Raja had tweeted: "Appointment of the new Crime Minister is an indication of our System Failure."

A few days ago, he resigned as the PESS spokesperson "voluntarily".

The PESS registered their presence in the toxic social media tussle between Imran Khan and the combined Opposition. Even the powerful Army felt that Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa addressed them in a closed-door setting to explain that the military had nothing to do with the downfall of Imran Khan.

The powerful army has ruled coup-prone Pakistan for more than half of its 75 years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy. However, it had distanced itself from the recent high voltage political tussle between Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan, saying it has nothing to do with politics.

Khan apparently lost support of the powerful Army after he refused to endorse the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the ISI spy agency chief last year. Finally he agreed but it soured his ties with the army.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)