WorlPosted at: Aug 7 2021 7:31PM Two senior Pakistani journalists picked up by FIA, released on bail after outcry
Islamabad, Aug 7 (UNI) Two senior Pakistani journalists were picked up from their homes in Lahore by the cyber wing of the country’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) – a move that has been strongly condemned by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and rights activists.
Following a storm of protests and criticism on social media, the FIA announced they were releasing the two journalists on bail.
The two journalists are Amir Mir, the brother of well known Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, and Syed Imran Shafqat, a vlogger.
Announcing their release, Hamid Mir tweeted: “The FIA just announced that they released journalists Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat on bail. According to FIA press release both journalists were arrested for their alleged contempt against Judiciary, Army and some “women” but FIA never mentioned the names of the “women”.
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Earlier, Hamid Mir posted the condemnation of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists on the abduction of the two journalists.
“Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the abduction of two senior journalists Syed Imran Shafqat and Amir Mir from Lahore by FIA and announced to hold countrywide protests from Monday against growing crimes against journalists in Pakistan,” he posted on Twitter.
In June this year, Hamid Mir’s highly rated political talk show on Geo TV was taken off the air for his criticism of the Imran Khan government.
Both Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat were publishing reports on YouTube that were critical of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.
Pakistan Media Watch said that the Lahore FIA Cyber Crime Wing arrested the two without any charges or due process. “Both were publishing reports on YouTube critical to the PTI government. Relatives say they were kidnapped on gunpoint and families threatened,” it said on Twitter.
The incident has been condemned by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“The fact that two journalists - Imran Shafqat and Amir Mir - have been taken into custody by the FIA in the space of one day is inexcusable. It is no coincidence that both are known as dissenting voices. We demand that Mr Shafqat and Mr Mir be released immediately,” it said.
HRCP tweeted that “given this seeming escalation in disappearances, HRCP will mobilise civil society organisations across Pakistan to demand an end to this heinous practice”.
Prominent rights activist Marvi Sirmed said that Pakistani security agencies were using the FIA as a front to kidnap the two journalists.
“Imran is a heart patient who needs regular medicines, but he wasn't allowed to take any. His family and colleagues don't know his whereabouts. State of media in Pakistan,” she said in a tweet.
Senior opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, voiced concern over the incident.
“The kidnapping of two journalists in one day is very worrying. The protection of the journalistic community is the responsibility of the state. Failure to do so is criminal. Disappearing someone for criticizing is undeclared martial law. Who will be silenced? Now the whole country is speaking. These actions will not leave you anywhere,” she said on Twitter.
In July, over 100 journalists from around the world had called on the government of Pakistan to “end impunity and take action against those who are attacking, harassing, and intimidating journalists”.
Absar Alam, a Nieman Fellow 2005, survived an armed attack in April this year. “This is part of a pattern that rights bodies have documented, with several instances of journalists being attacked, tortured, killed, and disappeared in Pakistan in the recent past,” the journalists said in a signed statement.
“An alarming surge in attacks on journalists in Pakistan has shocked the media community in the country and caused concern among journalists everywhere,” the signatories said.
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