Second missing blogger found

PAKISTANI blogger Aasim Saeed, who went missing earlier this month has been found, but has quickly left the country fearing for his life.

Saeed’s father said yesterday his son was detained by “state agencies” while visiting Pakistan from Singapore, though he did not name which one.

Pakistan’s government and Federal Investigation Agency have denied holding any of the five liberal activists who went missing this month.

The military and other state agencies have declined to officially comment. The army’s media wing did not reply to questions and phone calls.

Saeed’s recovery comes a day after poet and activist Salman Haider, who disappeared from the capital Islamabad on January 6, was recovered, according to his family.

The five liberal activists, some of whom have posted blogs criticising the political influence of the military and speaking for the rights of religious minorities, had each gone missing separately since January 4.

Saeed, who lives in Singapore and works in the IT department of the German Merck Group, disappeared on January 4 while visiting Lahore.

“It was no one other than the state agencies who took him,” said Aasim Saeed’s father Ghulam Haider, referring to Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

He said Saeed was picked up over a social media post intelligence agencies deemed “objectionable”.

“My son is not against any agency, he is not against the military or government and he is not against Islam,” Haider said.

“The fact that he was set free means that he has been cleared of all charges.”

Haider said Saeed had either returned to Singapore or was in Germany. — Reuters