Police under pressure to recover kidnapped activist’s cat in Pakistan

Imtiaz Asif claims that her cat—allegedly worth Rs0.2 million—had briefly shot to fame when she took it along with her to PTI’s 126-day sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk in 2014. Photo from Imtiaz Asif via Dawn/ANN

FAISALABAD, Pakistan—Police arrested three men on Monday for kidnapping and abducting a cat belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activist Imtiaz Asif.

Asif lodged an First Information Report against three men who had been pressurising her to join the PML-N. She believes the men kidnapped her cat in an act of retaliation upon her refusal to join their party.

Asif claims that her cat—allegedly worth Rs0.2 million—had briefly shot to fame when she took it along with her to PTI’s 126-day sit-in at Islamabad’s D-Chowk in 2014.

She tells Dawn.com that she had been pressured by several men in her neighborhood to switch parties and join the PML-N. She says the men lived in her neighborhood and had seen her cat roaming freely on the streets.

The three men have been arrested by the police and an investigation has been launched into the cat theft.

Police on Monday had recovered a cat and presented it to Asif for identification, but she says it was it was not her cat.

Asif tells Dawn.com she has received calls from several unidentified men who are pressurising her to join PML-N, and have offered to return her cat in exchange.

“The cat is very dear to me,” says Imtiaz.