Pakistani journalist arrested after criticising military

A Pakistani journalist known for criticising the country’s powerful military has gone missing after he was allegedly picked up by paramilitary forces in Karachi.

More than a dozen paramilitary rangers raided the home of the journalist, Arslan Khan, 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,’’ Mr Khan’s wife told dpa 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 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. He was released within 24 hours.

Several journalists had been murdered, kidnapped, tortured and intimidated in Pakistan in recent years.

However, those responsible have never been brought to justice.

(dpa/NAN)