ISLAMABAD: Senior journalist Matiullah Jan was picked up from the premises of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences last night by unknown people.
Later, reports said that Matiullah was taken to the Margalla police station and kept there.
“Matiullah Jan was reportedly picked by police and taken to Margalla police station, but he’s not there and missing,” said lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari in a post on X.
In an earlier post on social media, Matiullah’s son said that plainclothesmen took his father along with another journalist Asif Bashir Chaudhry into custody from the premises of PIMS, put them into their vehicles, but later set free Chaudhry and took away his father.
The Margalla police said they arrested Matiullah Jan from a checkpost after he did not stop for checking. The FIR said that instead of stopping, Matiullah drove his car and hit the staff injuring a policeman. He was drunk and snatched a gun from the police and threatened them, ice was also recovered from his car, the FIR claimed.
Later in the day, the senior journalist was produced in an Anti-Terrorism Court snd the prosecutor sought his one month’s remand. The prosecutor, to abrupt laughter in the courtroom, told the judge that they had to recover ice drug from him. The court approved two days’ physical remand of Matiullah Jan.
Meanwhile, Committee to Protect Journalists and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed concerns over the picking up of the senior journalist and demanded his immediate release.
Senior media persons also condemned the illegal action against the journalist and said such arbitrary action was against the law of the land and a tactic to suppress independent reporting.
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