Journalist eludes kidnap after criticising military

A Pakistani journalist who is among the foremost critics of the country’s military establishment dramatically escaped yesterday after armed men tried to kidnap him on a motorway.

Taha Siddiqui, who reports for the World Is One News channel and in 2014 won France’s equivalent of the Pulitzer, the Albert Londres Prix award, said he suspected security services of ordering his abduction. Wearing a blood-flecked shirt and muddy trousers, he said the incident mirrored others they had staged.