“Why am I so sure that they were police personnel? Because they had official weapons, official mobiles, and even the way they behaved all matched the typical style of the Karachi police,” Mr Chishti said.

He was addressing a hurriedly called press conference arranged by the Safety Centre for Journalists at the National Press Club (NPC) here on Monday.

Narrating his ordeal, Ali Chishti, who works at a weekly magazine, said his car was stopped by six policemen standing along with a mobile van at around 8pm on August 30.

“It was an isolated area and I stopped my car immediately. They pulled me out, manhandled me and eventually blindfolded me,” he said, adding,

“They took me in the police mobile and later handed me over to another group of men.”

“After inflicting severe physical and mental torture, they left me at an isolated spot from where some police personnel gave me a lift in their official vehicle,” he said.

However, he said his ‘rescuers’ then started demanding Rs50,000 from him, and did not specify any reason for the kidnapping and torture.

Instead, Mr Chishti was only directed to leave the city immediately. Responding to a question, Mr Chishti acknowledged that he had initially thought his kidnappers were political workers, but the style and body language of his kidnappers was clear proof that his kidnappers were actual policemen.

He said to ensure that he had left the city, some people had also gone to his office in Karachi two days later, inquiring about his where abouts.

DAWN

Although writing a report about parties harbouring militant wings is not possible for a journalist without risking his or her personal safety, the attacks on journalists have increased with the passage of time as the federal and provincial governments watch as silent spectators.

While a woman host of a talk-show fled the city in early August following a call intercepted by the intelligence agencies revealing a murder plot to be carried out by four target killers, a male journalist has recently been brutalised and told to leave the city. Both incidents happened in August and were publicized although it is hard to ascertain how many journalists have quietly left the city under threat.

In the first case, the police had informed the woman journalist about the life-threats after she did programmes on the mass-scale rigging in Karachi on election day. In the other case, a journalist was kidnapped by policemen on August 30 who later handed him over to another group who roughed him up.

The involvement of the police in such activities coincides with an admission by the IG Sindh before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a recent briefing that around 6,000 criminals were which needed to teach him a lesson. He was released after 10-hour captivity and his driver is still missing.

“They accused me of betraying the ethnic community I belong to,” he told The News in Islamabad, his latest destination, adding they criticized him for creating misunderstandings between a political party and a state institution.

“They warned me against writing anything about domestic politics and advised me to write only about international issues,” he explained. He was also accused of feeding information to Chirya, a reference to Geo TV’s talk show host, Najam Sethi.

As they asked him to quit Karachi, he told them that he would follow their order. Asked where he would go, he said he planned to settle in London, a reply that provoked them into his further beating and was asked to move to a city within Pakistan.

He was later dumped on roadside and the passersby informed the police which, instead of helping him, demanded Rs 50,000, and said failing to do so would land him in jail as a terrorist. They gave up the extortion demand only after he told them about his relation with an SHO of the area, nevertheless, the police forced him pay them Rs2,000 as petrol expenses.

In the lady host’s case, fingers were also pointed towards the political party which categorically rejected any role. She also moved to Islamabad and wrote a blog explaining the reasons behind her decision to quit Karachi.

After eye-witnessing massive rigging at the polling stations where she went to cast her vote but could not, she said she did a number of talk shows highlighting this issue. Later she went to Saudi Arabia for Umra and found her house surrounded by police upon return to Karachi.

As soon as I opened my cell phone after returning to my home, she wrote, the first call I received was by SP of her area. He said only one sentence “Madam where were you? Please don’t leave your house. I am on my way.” The Police and intelligence agencies men came to my house shortly, she explained.

“I was told by them that they had intercepted telephone calls detailing that four target killers had been assigned to target me or my family and the attack would be made to look like a robbery at gun point.”

According to all intelligence reports, all the terrorists belonged to the largest ethnic political party of Karachi, her blog reads. A delegation of the political party visited her residence after she contacted it about the calls intercepted by the intelligence agencies. The party delegates refuted the report.

She then asked herself: “I was unsure who to believe? My saviours had become my enemies? Were the agencies pitting me against a political party to play their proxy wars? Or was this whole thing the truth?”

Soon after this shocking news, she sent her brother back to Canada and moved her ailing mother to an undisclosed city before flying to Islamabad where she brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister during his meeting with TV anchors.Besides meeting the PM, she wrote: “I met Interior Minister and DG ISI but my all efforts went into vain.”

The News

“What Chishti has described is shocking that the Karachi police could kidnap a journalist to deliver him to the Boss,” FN said.

Ali Chishti, who writes for Pakistani and foreign publications on security issues, went on air on Friday night to describe his ordeal after being picked up from Karachi’s PECHS area along with his driver on August 30 at around 8pm by “uniformed personnel” of the Karachi police.

“Upon enquiry, I was told that I am not being kidnapped but someone wanted to see me; when I asked who?” They said “Boss,” Chishti said.

“Chishti’s kidnapping is the second case after journalist Abdul Razki Baloch’s body was found with signs of torture on August 21 in Karachi. Anything less than a thorough investigation under the supervision of a Sindh High Court judge will not take us to facts,” FN demanded of the Sindh chief minister. Meanwhile, Senator Saeed Ghani of the Pakistan People’s Party has contacted Chishti and promised an investigation.

Daily Times

Israr Ahmed, crime reporter of an English national daily, has been given life threats by some unknown persons on his cell number for many days. He has lodged a complaint with Saddar Bairooni police, but they have not registered an FIR so far. It is pertinent to mention that Israr Ahmed narrowly escaped a life attempt in April 2012 in Dhamial.

The office bearers of National Press Club (NPC), Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Crime and Court Reporters Association Rawalpindi (CCRAR) condemned the threats being given to the reporter and appealed to the federal government to take steps for protection of journalists. Talking to media, NPC Secretary General Shehryar Khan said that such threats could not stop journalists from discharging their duties. “Hundreds of journalists have so far been killed, but neither any challan has been completed nor has any culprit been arrested,” he said. He termed the situation alarming and urged the government to take steps for journalists’ protection.

CCRAR Secretary General Iqbal Malik said he had discussed the issue with the district government and filed an application for registration of an FIR at Saddar Bairooni police station. He said the association would pursue the case and ask Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to take notice of the threats being given to the reporter.

He said Israr Ahmad, a reporter of The Nation, was being given threats by unidentified people for many days. “On Thursday night, a person phoned Israr and, using offensive language, said: “Come out of your house as we are waiting for you outside. We will burn you along with your family.” Iqbal said the journalist had no enmity with anyone and asked the district government to provide protection to him.

The Nation

A son of Pir Rahamdil Shah told journalists that his father became target of militants when he had assisted a journalist from Jalalabad a couple of years back. After getting the first threat, the family had left Afghanistan and again migrated into Peshawar. But, the son said, even at Peshawar some unknown persons had attacked their home on Warsak Road. However, due to timely help of the neighbours they remained safe.

As a result of frequent threats and warning of militants a large number of tribal and Afghan journalists and their families are facing sever problems due to frequent threats and attacks at hands of unknown militants. Most of the tribal journalists have abandoned their homes whereas the Afghan journalists are either giving up their professions or going underground as now continuation of profession has become harmful for their survival.

According to the latest data, around 98 journalists were killed mysteriously since 9/11 throughout Pakistan. Half of them belonged to Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and adjoining Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA). A few of them also belonged to Afghanistan and were mysteriously shot dead in Peshawar and its surrounding areas.

Malik Mumtaz from Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, became the latest victim of target killing. The mysterious assassination of Malik Mumtaz has led to fuelling of unrest amongst the journalist community from all over Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and adjoining FATA.

Little before assassination of Malik Mumtaz, Afghan journalist Pir Rahamdil Shah had also abandoned his home in January last and had gone into hiding for security.

Source: The Nation