ISLAMABAD - A male lecturer of the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) and human rights activist went missing under mysterious circumstances in Islamabad on Friday night.

Sources said that Prof Salman Haider went missing in the Bani Galla area of Islamabad, where he had gone to meet his friends.

Zeeshan Haider, the brother of the missing lecturer, suspected that his brother may have been kidnapped. The Lohibher police have registered a kidnapping case against unknown persons on a complaint of Zeeshan Haider, and started an investigation, the sources said.

Zeeshan Haider, a resident of G-10/3, told the police that his brother had left the house located in Korang Town at 3:30 pm on January 6 in his black Corolla car to meet some of his friends in Bani Gala.

Quoting statement of his journalist brother Zeeshan Haider, police said that Salman was with his friends at Bani Gala from where he called his wife that he will reach home by 8 pm but didn’t return.

The brother said that the missing lecturer’s wife called on his mobile phone when he did not return home. Despite repeated calls on Prof Salman’s cell phone, he did not respond. Later, Prof Salman’s wife received an SMS from his cell phone to collect his car parked near Korang Nullah at Koral Chowk on Islamabad Expressway.

According to a spokesman for the Islamabad police, the Lohibher police have launched an investigation into the case. He said that the police also quizzed the professor’s friends who he had visited on Friday night.

On the other hand, Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed the Islamabad police to speed up its efforts and utilise all resources for the recovery of human rights activist Prof Salman Haider.

According to an interior ministry press release, the minister asked the police authorities to trace Salman Haider by utilising the network of Safe City project.

Salman Haider should be recovered as soon as possible with the help of all relevant institutions, Chaudhry Nisar added.