On Saturday, family and friends reported that a reporter working for Pakistan's leading Geo News television station had been found’ missing in the southern port city of Karachi.
Faheem Siddiqui, head of the Geo Bureau in
Karachi, said Ali Imran Syed had contacted his wife on the phone, saying he had
reached his mother's house.
Police had earlier registered a case of
"kidnapping" without naming the suspects after the journalist's disappearance.
The reporter left the house on Friday evening,
telling his wife that he would be back in half an hour before he went missing
for 72 hours.
Recently, Pakistani journalists were detained or
abducted for several hours before being’ released.
Azhar Abbas, head of Geo TV, had earlier said he
had contacted provincial and federal officials to "help locate the missing
reporter" and "ensure his safety".
Siddiqui said the reporter's abduction could be
due to his work on recent political events, including the arrest of an
opposition leader who is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said in a tweet,
that no one should "disappear in a democracy".
Pakistani media has come under renewed pressure
from state institutions, which have sought to curb media headlines and ban the
selection of guests for TV talk shows.
Journalists and supporters of press freedom often
criticize the Pakistani military and security agencies for putting pressure on
the media to stop critical coverage.
In December last year, Bilal Farooqi, a
Karachi-based journalist for the Express Tribune newspaper was arrested’ on
charges of spreading hate speech against the country's military on social
media.
Matiullah Jan was briefly detained’ in July. John
is known’ for his criticism of Pakistan's military and security agencies.
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