Journalist recounts ordeal
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani journalist known for his criticism of the country’s military on Thursday recounted his ordeal this week when armed men abducted him in broad daylight and held him captive for a day.
It was the first time Matiullah Jan, who was freed on Tuesday, shared details about his 12-hour detention.
Enforced disappearances, usually by intelligence agencies, are common in Pakistan but it’s rare that a victim and survivor of such an incident goes public about it.
Jan chose to release a video in which explains how he had dropped off his wife on Tuesday morning at a school in Islamabad where she works and was checking messages on his phone, his car still parked, when armed men arrived in several vehicles.
They surrounded his car, dragged him out, threw him into a vehicle and sped away.
Jan said the men wore a mix of plainclothes and police uniform. He said he threw his mobile phone into the school yard as he was being dragged away, hoping someone would later notice it and realise what had happened.
But one of his abductors saw he had thrown the phone and asked a school guard to retrieve it.
The phone was returned, and the cars sped away with Jan. Minutes later, news of his abduction broke on social media. Closed-circuit TV footage from the school area showed the entire abduction.
His wife, Kaneez Sughra, spoke to the media outside the family’s home, showing a photo of her husband on her smart phone and appealing for his life.
The abduction quickly drew outrage and condemnation from fellow journalists and human rights activists in Pakistan and across the world who rallied in support of Jan and demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government ensure the journalist’s release and freedom.
Jan was released later that evening.
The government has so far not commented on Jan’s abduction.