On 20 December, 2015 Muhammad Ansar, a reporter of Aaj News television channel was manhandled by police for covering the allegedly illegal closing down of sugar mills in Tando Muhammad Khan, a district in the southern part of Sindh province in Pakistan.

Police tried to prevent Ansar from filming the protest of laborers. Police also snatched his camera and cell phone. He was also detained and released two hours later after protests by journalists, and coverage of the incident by television channels

The incident occurred when a heavy contingent of police along with private security guards went to the mill to restrain the laborers from entering into Seeri Sugar Mill which was reopened on the orders of Sindh High Court.

Ansar while talking to PPF said the policemen sized his camera and made me to sit in police mobile for over an hour. The camera was returned but without the footage of the protests and police action. Police took his motorcycle and the next day when he went to the police station, he was told they did not have any policemen.

Journalists from Tando Muhammad Khan Press Club protested against the manhandling and the high handed attitude of the police.

Pakistan Press Foundation

Muhammad Afzal Mughal, vice president of the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ), Muhammad Afzal Mughal was picked up from his house and detained almost fifteen hours, in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southern Balochistan province. Balochistan is the most dangerous province in Pakistan for journalists, because of militancy by Baloch nationalist insurgents and Taliban factions, and the counter insurgency operations by the law enforcement agencies. Mughal is associated with Urdu language daily newspaper “Mashriq” and Online news agency

On November 10, eight armed men, believed to be from some law enforcement agency, knocked his door at about 2:30 AM and asked him for his identity. They told him to get his mobile phone, blindfolded him and took him with them for interrogation. They took him to their office and told him to sleep till morning.

In the morning they interrogated him about his about his house, identity and associates. They asked him questions about telephone calls he had allegedly received from militants, and took his finger prints.

Later, they told him of their misunderstanding and that they had got all information about him. They returned his mobile phone and dropped him near his house.

Mughal’s wife registered a First Information Report (FIR) of kidnapping in Saddar police station.

The BUJ staged a protest demonstration against the incident at the Quetta Press Club premises. The protesters raised slogans and demanded the security of journalists and media persons in the province.

Pakistan Press Foundation

QUETTA: A local journalist and Vice President of the Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ), Muhammad Afzal Mughal, was picked up by a law enforcement agency late on Monday night. However, he was released on Tuesday afternoon.

A group of armed men knocked at the gate of the journalist’s house at around 2:30am and took him away saying they wanted to interrogate him.

Giving details of the incident, Mr Mughal said that the doorbell started ringing repeatedly. When he opened the window to know who was outside, he was asked by seven to eight people to come out of his house.

“When I opened the door, they asked me to tell my name and show my identity card and hand them over my cellphone,” he said.

“I gave them my identity card and told them that my mobile phone is in the room. Then they entered my home and took my mobile phone, checked it thro­ugh an equipment and asked me to follow them,” he said.

“After blindfolding me, they took me to an office of a law enforcement agency and I was asked to take rest in a room till the morning.”

He said that during the journey they also picked up another person from another place.

“Their attitude was polite and civilised and when one of them asked to handcuff me, others said there was no need for handcuffing me,” he said.

He said that in the morning, people of a law-enforcement agency asked him questions about his house and his identity.

“They read out some names and asked whether I have any acquaintance with them. I told them that I have no acquaintance with these people.

“I told the interrogators that I work as a staff reporter in daily Mashriq and a private news agency. They could get any information about me from my offices.

“The officials took my thumb and finger impressions and different persons came in the room and asked me different questions.

“Later, the officials told me that they brought him to their office due to some misunderstanding and that they had got all information about him,” he said.

The journalist further said that they arranged a phone call with “my wife. Later I was dropped near my house in Shehbaz Town”.

Reacting to the incident, the BUJ brought out a procession, which marched through different roads of the city.

A large number of journalists and representatives of civil society took part in a rally at the Quetta Press Club premises and raised slogans, demanding security and protection to journalists.

Speaking on the occasion, BUJ President Hamadullah Baloch condemned the incident and the ordeal which Mr Mughal was put through.

He said that if any law-enforcement agency had any complaint against any journalist or they want to question any journalist, it could call the journalist concerned through the Quetta Press Club or the BUJ instead of picking him/her up from his/her house late in the night.

Dawn