Pak journalist exiled in Sweden goes missing, says rights group

stockholm — A Pakistani journalist living in exile in Sweden has been missing for nearly a month, stoking fears that his disappearance is tied to his reporting on Balochistan, a Press rights group said on Tuesday.

Sajid Hussain went missing on March 2, according to police.

Originally from Balochistan province, he has been living and working as a part-time lecturer in the Swedish city of Uppsala. He is also chief editor of the online news outlet, Balochistan Times.

According to RSF, Hussain was last seen boarding a train from Stockholm to Uppsala “with the aim of collecting the keys to his new apartment and leaving some personal effects there”.

He has not been in contact with anyone since. “No one, including

No one, including his family, has heard anything from Sajid since March 2 Erik Halkjaer

RSF official

his family, has heard anything from him,” Erik Halkjaer, president of the Swedish branch of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said.

Because his articles crossed the line of what Pakistan’s military deems acceptable, it could not be ruled out that the Pakistani intelligence services had been involved, said RSF.

The has reported on human rights abuses as well as some of the active rebel groups in Balochistan.

The RSF said that according to confidential information it had obtained, Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, keeps a list of exiled reporters.

Hussain is a well-known journalist in Balochistan and his work has largely focused on drug trafficking, forced disappearances and the Balochistan insurgency.

Hussain originally left Pakistan for Oman and then moved to Sweden in 2017, where according to police he received asylum in 2019.

A police spokesman said they were actively investigating the disappearance based on several theories, but could not comment on details as the investigation was still ongoing. —