Where is Ahmad Farhad? The mysterious case of Pakistan’s missing poet

Farhad has been missing for a week. His family blames Pakistan’s spy agency but the government denies holding him.

Islamabad, Pakistan — A missing poet. A desperate family. A powerful security apparatus. And a court trying to decode conflicting claims in order to dispense justice. Those are the ingredients of a case that has grabbed Pakistan’s attention this week.

Hours after Ahmad Farhad, who is also a journalist, went missing on the night of May 14, his family petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC), alleging that he had been “disappeared” from outside his home in the capital, Islamabad, by the country’s powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for his criticism of authorities.

Pakistan’s government has said that Farhad is not in the custody of the ISI. But on Tuesday, the court demanded that security forces produce Farhad within four days, warning that it might otherwise summon senior government officials for a grilling.

So who is Farhad, how did he go missing, why is the court intervening and what has it said – and what is Farhad’s family saying?

Previously associated with various media outlets, including Bol News, Farhad was recently working as a freelance journalist and frequently reported on the recent antigovernment protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.