Pakistan: Former human rights minister arrested, triggering outcry

Former Human Rights Minister of Pakistan Shireen Mazari was arrested on Saturday, according to her daughter and a fellow former minister.

Her daughter Imaan Mazari said anti-corruption police detained and manhandled Mazari near her Islamabad home.

"My mother was illegally abducted," said told reporters. "If they the government think that the women are soft targets, they are mistaken," she said.

Later on Saturday night, Shireen Mazari was released from police custody and the Islamabad High Court instructed the government to conduct an inquiry into her arrest.

Mazari was a cabinet-level minister in the administration of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who also served under in Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told Geo TV that Mazari was manhandled during the arrest.

Local broadcasters aired footage of female police officers detaining Mazari. Pakistani police confirmed she had been arrested, but said: "news of any mishandling is baseless."

Chaudhry claimed that her arrest was politically motivated and that she was targeted by the new administration of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

She was reportedly arrested over a land dispute dating back to the 1970s.