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![\"English](\"http:\/\/www.pakistanpressfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/1454045-reporter-1499616884-194-640x480-200x200.jpg\" "\\"English")
KARACHI : The whereabouts of a journalist associated with a national daily are unknown after he was allegedly picked up by \u201cplainclothes security personnel\u201d in the early hours of Sunday.<\/p>\n
According to his family, Abdullah Zafar, a staff reporter at The Nation, was taken away in an overnight raid at their house in Lawyers Society, Scheme 33 of Karachi\u2019s Sacchal area.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver a dozen personnel in plainclothes \u2013 most of them clad in shalwar kameez with faces covered \u2013 arrived at my home at late night,\u201d said Zafarullah, the father of the detained journalist.
\nHe said the security personnel had arrived in three vehicles accompanied by two police vans and they had his younger brother with them too. He added that police and Rangers personnel were also accompanying the plainclothes personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey first raided our old house in Shah Faisal Colony from where we have recently shifted and took my brother along with them, and then raided my house,\u201d said Zafarullah. \u201cAfter entering our home, they went to my son\u2019s room and after a two-minute talk with him, they took him away.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that as the men were leaving they also tried to take him and his other son with them too but later left them behind at the main door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just told me that my son was involved in the forgery of a Rs50 million cheque,\u201d Zafarullah said, \u201cA Rs50 million cheque bounce case? That\u2019s a joke to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The missing journalist\u2019s family also accused police of not cooperating with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited Sacchal police station multiple times but they did not register my complaint,\u201d said Zafarullah. \u201cThe police just took my application on my third visit and even then they did not give me a receiving copy of the application.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, when contacted, the law-enforcement agencies including police and Rangers denied their involvement in Abdullah\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have checked and he is not with the police,\u201d Sindh IGP Allah Dino Khowaja told The Express Tribune.<\/p>\n
Similarly, a senior Rangers official said the paramilitary force did not have a role in Abdullah\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have checked. Our troops did not detain or arrest him,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, journalists\u2019 bodies have demanded the reporter\u2019s safe return to his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe condemn Abdullah\u2019s illegal detention and we demand his immediate release,\u201d said Fahim Siddiqui, the general secretary of the Karachi Union of Journalists. \u201cThis is not the way to deal with a journalist. Law enforcers should have approached the journalists\u2019 union first if he (Abdullah) was involved in any wrongdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siddiqui urged the prime minister and the Sindh chief minister to take notice of the matter and ensure Abdullah\u2019s safe recovery.<\/p>\n
The home minister, taking notice of the case, has ordered an inquiry into the matter.<\/p>\n
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