CTP investigating attacks on Pakistani dissidents

The Guardian has reported that counter terrorism police are investigating "targeted attacks" against two Pakistani dissidents in the UK.

The series of four attacks, which began on Christmas Eve, may indicate states using criminal proxies to silence their critics.

The attacks took place in Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire, one of which involved a firearm.

The first two attacks happened on Christmas Eve, one in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, when two men broke into a home of a dissident and vandalised it. The second was at the home of Mirza Shahzad Akbar, a former member of Imran Khan’s cabinet, who now lives in Cambridgeshire. Akbar said he was attacked just after 8am on Christmas Eve. He told the Guardian he was punched in the face.

On the advice on police Akbar and his family left the house. After he returned to the house on New Year's Eve, another attack took place. Two men were seen on CCTV, one of them shot through the window with a firearm. The other then threw a burning rag through the window.

A third attack took place at Akbar's home on 10 January. A man sprayed chemicals on the outer wall and broke windows with an iron bar. Racist graffiti was also sprayed on the exterior.

Akbar also suffered an acid attack in 2023.