February 23, 2026
By Xari Jalil & Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Hamza Ahmad Khan, a University of Toronto (UoT) PhD scholar who went missing in Lahore last week, has now surfaced in the custody of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).
After three days of silence, Khan reportedly contacted his sister to inform her that he had been detained in connection with “defamatory posts” made online. The revelation comes three days after a kidnapping/abduction FIR was lodged at the Defence A police station, after Hamza’s disappearance during a cab ride, in the early hours of February 19.
“Last night, Hamza Ahmed Khan called his sister on the phone and informed her that he had been taken into custody of the NCCIA in a case relating to his posts on social media,” Yousaf Rasheed, his lawyer, said. Rasheed said family members and friends were trying to get details of the FIR registered against Hamza Ahmed Khan and engage legal assistance for him in the case.
Meanwhile there has been no response from the Canadian Embassy.
The disappearance
Hamza Ahmad, a Canadian citizen who arrived in Pakistan on February 13 to conduct field research for his doctoral thesis, was last seen entering a Yango cab between 1:00 am and 2:00 am. He had booked a round trip from Defence to Model Town, and back, but the ride was never completed and he did not return.
Following the filing of the FIR, the Lahore DIG Operations Faisal Kamran stated that police had no leads on a motive or any suspects but filed a case at the behest of Hamza’s family, under Section 365 PPC (kidnapping with wrongful confinement). With the news of his detention by the NCCIA, legal counsel and complainant in the FIR, Yousuf Rasheed indicated that previous plans to file a habeas corpus petition in the Lahore High Court have been set aside for now.
‘An impartial researcher’
Speaking to Voicepk, entrepreneur Faisal Sherjan, said that Hamza Ahmad had been staying at his son’s rented home in Defence, while he was away from Lahore. He said he had known him since 2022 and that they occasionally had many scholarly discussions.
“He had been studying the political and economic systems of South Asia He had been observing a lot of other events and incidents such as the 2014 elections in India, etc. But ever since the situation in Gaza, he began to focus more on the colonial-imperialist influence in Muslim countries and human rights abuses in these countries. He was researching on a number of issues including democracy. He was interviewing a variety of people including journalists, lawyers, and activists, and the UoT was sponsoring his trip here.”
The FIR has also confirmed that Hamza was a Canadian citizen.
Sherjan said that he was meant to leave the next day. He also said that Hamza was not part of any political party, but that he was impartial as a researcher and actually critical of different political parties in Pakistan, but spoke against human rights abuses.
“For instance he was critical of PTI, but he also condemned the human rights violations,” he said.
The last person to be interviewed by Hamza was Ammar Ali Jan, a politician and leader of the Huqooq-e-Khalq Party.
“Broadly speaking, he was working on secularism and political Islam, and he was doing a critique of the Western influence on the Muslim world and in particular on the Palestine issue,” said Ammar Ali Jan, while speaking to Voicepk. “He wanted to know from me the leftist perspective of EU and its funding for human rights and democracy in Pakistan. His sudden disappearance is a sign that its not just political dissent that is under threat but also critical thought that is being attacked.”
Ammar Jan said that the situation was really bad for an academic in Pakistan.
“If you really want to invite global academics to come to Pakistan, incidents like this can be a huge hindrance to any kind of global exchange,” he said. “Both local and international academia will get affected by this case. He was doing exactly what he was supposed to do as a legit doctoral candidate – he was asking questions.”
Only a few days ago, MNA Mohsin Dawar was meant to speak at LUMS University in Lahore, but was banned from entry.
Where LUMS used to be a place which allowed at least some critical voices (as long as they weren’t Baloch), even that space has all but disappeared now. Faculty engage in self-surveillance while student events get canceled with little or no protest. Depressing state of affairs. https://t.co/l1tazaJZZt
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) February 22, 2026
Police had no idea of the abduction
Earlier, commenting on the disappearance of the student, Lahore DIG Operations Faisal Kamran had said that the case had been registered against unidentified suspects and that there were efforts being made to recover Hamza.
The DIG had said that they had no idea who could have kidnapped Hamza or whether he had gone missing under any other circumstances, nor the motive behind the alleged abduction.
Hamza Ahmed is known to be an outspoken social media user, and he has tweeted and made Vlogs which may be deemed controversial by some.
Earlier the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated in a press release that it was deeply troubled by reports of the political science student of the University of Toronto, having gone missing while conducting field research in Pakistan. HRCP urged the authorities to ‘immediately trace his whereabouts and ensure his safe recovery’.
حمزہ احمد خان @hamzakk کو بازیاب کرو..
ایک پی ایچ ڈی سکالر،جو استعمار مخالف تحقیق کررہا ہے،جو فلسطین کیلئے آواز اٹھاتا رہا ہے،جو بشری حقوق اور اظہار رائے کی آزادی کا وکیل ہے، ان کو 19 فروری کو لاہور سے “نامعلوم”جو سب کو معلوم ہیں نے غائب کردیا ہے۔
کیا پاکستان ایک وسیع و عریض قید… pic.twitter.com/bWJeBl7F0H
— Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan | سینیٹر مشتاق احمد خان (@SenatorMushtaq) February 22, 2026