ISLAMABAD — A distinguished Pakistani tv journalist recognized for his public help of former Prime Minister Imran Khan has gone lacking, the police, his household and his employer stated.
Sami Abrahim’s disappearance was first introduced in a police tweet late Wednesday, hours after he went lacking. His household and the Karachi-based impartial BOL tv, the place Abrahim works, claimed on Thursday that he had been kidnapped.
Abrahim has lengthy publicly opposed the federal government of Khan‘s successor, Premier Shahbaz Sharif. Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, was in workplace in 2018-2022 and was ousted in a no-confidence vote within the parliament final yr.
In a information announcement, BOL TV stated Abrahim was taken by unidentified males on Wednesday. Abrahim’s brother, Ali Raza, filed a police grievance claiming that eight individuals in 4 automobiles intercepted his brother’s automobile on his method again residence from work within the capital, Islamabad, and took him away. His driver was unhurt.
The police tweet promised they’d do their greatest to search out the well-known TV reporter.
Abrahim’s disappearance comes two weeks after one other pro-Khan TV journalist, Imran Riaz, went lacking. Pakistani police have denied detaining him.
Reporters Without Borders – the worldwide media watchdog additionally recognized by its French acronym RSF – expressed concern on Tuesday for Riaz’s security. In a press release, it urged Pakistan’s authorities “to ensure respect for the rule of law by immediately revealing where and in what conditions he is being held.”
Pakistan’s media group and journalists have additionally demanded accountability for these behind the October killing in Kenya of Arshad Sharif, a distinguished Pakistani TV anchor. The 50-year-old journalist was residing in Kenya to keep away from arrest at residence on expenses of maligning the highly effective navy. According to Kenyan police, officers opened fireplace at a automobile carrying Sharif when it drove by way of a checkpoint exterior Nairobi as a substitute of stopping.
Later, Nairobi police expressed remorse over the capturing, saying it was a case of “mistaken identity” throughout a search for the same automobile concerned in a toddler abduction case.
Earlier this month, Khan‘s supporters clashed for days with police throughout Pakistan, attacking public property – together with a radio station within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar – and navy installations, angered by his arrest from a courtroom in Islamabad. The violence solely subsided after Khan was launched on a Supreme Court order.
The prime minister on Tuesday visited the badly broken station in Peshawar, promising in a speech to the employees there that each one suspects linked to the current violence could be prosecuted.
Khan has repeatedly accused Washington, the prime minister and the Pakistani navy of being behind his ouster – expenses that each one three have denied – and has been main an opposition marketing campaign in opposition to the federal government, demanding early elections.
Since the violent protests, the federal government has cracked down on Khan‘s supporters, arresting greater than 5,000 and threatening trials earlier than navy courts.
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