By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Mirza Shahzad Akbar, a former special assistant to ex-prime minister Imran Khan, was assaulted at his home in Cambridge on Wednesday morning, sustaining fractures to his nose and jaw in what his political allies described as a brutal attack amid escalating threats against critics of Pakistan’s powerful establishment.
The incident, which left Akbar hospitalised, marks the second violent assault on him in Britain since he fled Pakistan in self-imposed exile in April 2022, following Khan’s removal from office in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, remains imprisoned in Pakistan on multiple charges that his supporters say are politically motivated.
“I have been attacked and been in the hospital and with the police. Bruised and fractured,” Akbar told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn in text messages on Thursday, confirming details shared by the PTI on the social media platform X.
The party’s post on Wednesday said the attacker had punched Akbar repeatedly in the face at his Cambridge residence. “Local police have collected all details, and an investigation is underway,” the PTI stated. The assault came shortly after a speech by Akbar criticising Pakistan’s army chief went viral online, Indian media reported. In the address, Akbar accused the general of instilling “fear and terror” in the country, a theme that has drawn sharp backlash from pro-military factions in Pakistan.
Akbar, a lawyer who served as Khan’s adviser on accountability and interior affairs during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been a vocal critic of what he calls state-sponsored harassment since leaving Pakistan. He has linked previous threats to his role in high-profile corruption investigations, including the Al Qadir Trust case involving Khan.
This latest episode echoes a November 2023 acid attack on Akbar at his former home in Hertfordshire, where a masked assailant threw corrosive liquid at him, causing burns. “I will not be intimidated nor bow down to those who are doing this,” Akbar posted on X at the time. He later told media that he had received ominous warnings in the months leading up to that incident. “I have been sent messages in recent months by people who are clearly not happy with me,” he said. “I’ve been told to mend my ways or else…”
In April 2024, Akbar initiated legal proceedings in a British court against the Pakistani government, alleging involvement in the acid attack. He also sent notices to the Pakistan High Commission in London and other officials. Pakistan’s Foreign Office rejected those claims in May 2024, describing them as “preposterous” and denying any role by state actors. British police investigated the 2023 attack but closed the case in May 2024, citing an inability to trace suspects.
Details of the current Cambridge investigation have not been publicly disclosed, and Hertfordshire police representatives did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Akbar’s situation has become entangled in broader diplomatic tensions. An Islamabad court declared him a proclaimed offender last year in a case related to alleged controversial statements on X, prompting Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, to hand extradition papers to Britain’s high commissioner to Pakistan, Jane Marriott.
Although Pakistan and Britain do not have a formal extradition treaty, an agreement allows for the repatriation of nationals accused of crimes or immigration violations.
The attack has prompted condemnation from PTI supporters and human rights advocates, who view it as part of a pattern of transnational repression against Pakistani dissidents abroad.
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