[7] He had previously worked for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch[8] on a wide range of topics including people illegally disappeared by the military.
[11][12] Khattak was abducted by four individuals on the Swabi motorway interchange in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 13 November 2019.
[14] [15] He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in a secret military court trial in late-2021, not being allowed to defend his case.
[16] Human Rights Watch condemned the sentencing, saying that "Pakistan's security forces have with impunity long carried out enforced disappearances" and calling for him to tried publicly in a civilian court.
[17] Amnesty International called the sentencing "the culmination of a shameful two-year process that has been unjust from start to finish" and saying that "enforced disappearances must, once and for all, be put to an end.