• After Askari was picked up from Karachi, he returned home the next day.

• Police, plainclothes personnel “abducted” reporter’s wife, his wife claims.

• On Saturday night, a reporter went missing while returning home.

   

According to Geo News, Syed Muhammad Askari, a senior reporter with Daily Jang who went missing late Saturday night, has returned home after more than 24 hours.

After he went missing, plainclothes police and personnel allegedly picked him up in Karachi.

In an application filed at the Baloch Colony Police Station, the journalist’s wife claimed that police and plainclothes personnel had “abducted” her husband.

Shazia Askari stated in her application that officers in uniform and plainclothes abducted her husband from a spot near the Qayyumabad Interchange when he was returning from an event with a friend.

Her husband was taken away without a reason at around 1:15am on Sunday by personnel in a white vehicle and a police mobile, she added.

It was requested that he be released immediately.

‘Abduction’ of journalist condemned

As Askari disappeared, journalist bodies expressed profound concern.

Crime Reporters Association President Kashif Hashmi, General Secretary Rehan Chishti, and members of the Executive Council strongly condemn the abduction of the senior reporter.

Chishti and Hashmi said in a joint statement that unknown masked persons had taken the senior journalist with them.

Taking steps for the early return of Askari should be taken by the provincial government, they said.

The journalist community reserves the right to protest.

Under the chairmanship of Justice (retd) Rasheed A Razvi, an emergency meeting of the Sindh Journalists and Other Media Practitioners Commission was also held.

Members of the commission, including Karachi Union of Journalists President Fahim Siddiqui, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Professor Tauseef Ahmad Khan, and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), called for a one-point agenda in the meeting at the request of the union of journalists.

Over the frequent kidnapping of journalists, the meeting expressed anger and concern.

It is the responsibility of the state to protect the life, property, and liberty of its citizens since Syed Askari was not wanted in any case.

During the meeting, it was pointed out that the abduction and disappearance of Askari are serious violations of Articles 9 and 10.

In a letter to the Sindh home secretary and inspector general of police, the commission chairman requested that the missing journalist be recovered within 24 hours. Upon receiving a report regarding the incident, he instructed the commission to submit it within 36 hours.

The HRCP said all democratic voices must condemn the kidnapping of Askari in a separate statement.

As stated by the HRCP, “The state’s willingness to tolerate criticism and opposition is challenged by the state’s continued abduction of journalists in this manner, without charge.”. 

“We must release Askari.”