‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’: ANOTHER PAKISTANI JOURNALIST MISSING AS FAMILY ALLEGES ABDUCTION

Sat 27 May 2023:

A renowned Pakistani television journalist known for publicly supporting former Prime Minister Imran Khan has gone missing for two days, prompting concerns for his safety.

Sami Abraham’s family and Karachi-based independent BOL television, where he works, confirmed his kidnapping on Thursday.

Abraham’s disappearance was first announced in a police tweet late on Wednesday, hours after he went missing. In a news announcement the same day, BOL TV said Abraham was taken by unidentified men.

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Abraham has long publicly opposed the government of Khan’s successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and is a critic of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has directly ruled the country for nearly half of its 75 years of independence.

Abraham’s brother, Ali Raza, filed a police complaint that said eight people in four vehicles intercepted his brother’s car on his way back home from work in the capital, Islamabad, and took him away. His driver was unharmed.

Abraham’s disappearance came two weeks after another pro-Khan journalist, Imran Riaz Khan, went missing. Pakistani police and intelligence agencies have denied detaining him.

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In a statement late on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “deeply disturbed” by the disappearance of the prominent journalists.

“Authorities must respect the rule of law and either present Abraham and Khan in court or immediately release them,” the media watchdog’s Asia programme coordinator, Beh Lih Yi, said.

#Pakistan: Authorities must immediately reveal the whereabouts of journalists Sami Abraham and Imran Riaz Khan and stop intimidating the press as the country’s political turmoil drags on.https://t.co/DvqomcLe5W

— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) May 25, 2023

Pakistan’s media community and independent journalists have also demanded accountability for those behind the killing of Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani TV anchor who was shot to death in Kenya in October.

The 49-year-old journalist was living in exile after fleeing the nation to avoid imprisonment in connection with a number of cases, including sedition charges stemming from comments he made on his show that were considered disrespectful to the military.

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In Nairobi, police allegedly opened fire on his vehicle. Kenyan authorities regretted the killing for the tragedy, calling it a “mistake of identity.”

The disappearances of two journalists this month were the result of violent protests by Imran Khan supporters. They struggled with police for days across Pakistan, assaulting public property and military sites, enraged by the former prime minister’s imprisonment in an Islamabad courtroom.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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