Photo: Activist journalist Arslan Khan goes missing
Arrested Pakistani journalist known for criticizing military goes missing
A Pakistani journalist, Arslan Khan, known for criticising the country’s powerful military has gone missing after he was allegedly picked up by paramilitary forces in Karachi.
Media reports said that more than a dozen paramilitary rangers raided the home of the journalist, and took him away in the early hours of Friday morning, his family said.
“The rangers pointed guns at us and took him away. We still have no clue about his whereabouts,’’Khan’s wife told journalists from Karachi.
“I was told that Khan was being detained due to his social media posts,’’ she said.
The news that the journalist had allegedly been abducted had caused an outcry on social media.
Meanwhile, the issue became one of the top trending topics in Pakistan as thousands took to twitter to demand for his release.
Rights group Amnesty International said it was deeply concerned about the abduction.
“Pakistan must end this abhorrent practice of punishing dissent by wrenching people away from their loved ones.
“The newly-appointed Inter-Ministerial Committee on Missing Persons must take note of the jarring disconnect between what they are saying and what is actually happening on the ground,’’ Amnesty said.
Earlier in May, a journalist working for AAJ TV, an Urdu language news channel, was picked up in broad daylight close to his home in Karachi, was although he was later released within 24 hours.
Several journalists have been murdered, kidnapped, tortured and intimidated in Pakistan in recent years.
According to German news agency, dpa, those responsible have however never been brought to justice.
