Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt was released after brief detention by Karachi police on Thursday, The Express Tribune reported.

According to Butt, police detained him for three to four hours without any reason. He was brought to Gulberg Police Station for questioning, an HRCP member stated.

Earlier in the day, the organisation in a post claimed that Butt was arrested and demanded his “immediate release.”

“HRCP believes that this measure is an intimidation tactic designed to stifle the voice of human rights defenders like Mr Butt,” the organisation said in X post.

“The police entered our house and asked me to come to the police station,” Butt told the news outlet.

The HRCP chairperson claimed that police asked him about his Quetta visit, which he said, he has not taken over the last seven years.

Butt claimed that police wanted to know about the organisation’s support to Baloch activists.

“They released me after the pressure mounted on the media,” Butt said and condemned his detention.

While reacting to the development, Aaj News anchorperson Munizae Jahangir said: “This is the first time that a chairperson of HRCP has been summoned to the police station for an interrogation on his participation in Baloch rallies to #EndEnforcedDisappearances.”

She demanded that the state must stop using “pressure tactics” on human rights defenders like Butt.