Senior journalist Matiullah Jan was arrested from Islamabad in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
His arrest was declared publicly hours after his disappearance. The case has been registered against him in Margallah Police Station in Islamabad.
A tweet appeared from the official account of Matiullah Jan that informed about his alleged abduction from the premises of the hospital in Islamabad.
“Matiullah Jan has been abducted from the parking of PIMS tonight at around 11 by unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle alongside Saqib Bashir (who was let go 5 minutes later). This follows his courageous coverage of the protests in Islamabad. I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts,” read the tweet.
The son of Matiullah Jan released a video message on X sharing the details of his alleged abduction. According to him, he was abducted by another journalist Saqib Bashir, who was released later by ‘unidentified men’ took Matiullah with them.
His lawyer Imaan Mazari claimed that “After pleading with police at Margalla Police Station to allow us access to our client Matiullah Jan, we were finally allowed in. I checked hawalaat/lock up myself and the ppl locked up inside confirmed to me that right before we came, the police took Matiullah Jan. He is missing.”
Matiullah Jan was investigating the story of the killings of PTI protestors at D-Chowk Islamabad as a result of straight firing by law enforcement agencies on Tuesday night.
Reports emerging on social media claim more than 100 people died as a result of gunshots. He also denied the reports of PTI killing the security personnel in a car accident. The government had accused PTI of crushing security personnel under their vehicles which resulted in the death of the security personnel. Matiullah reported that it was vans of police and rangers that killed those security personnel.