Pak scribe working for Indian channel escapes abduction

A prominent Pakistani journalist and a vocal critic of Pakistan’s  military, has said he was assaulted and threatened with death by nearly a dozen unidentified armed men who tried to abduct him.

Taha Siddiqui, the Pakistani bureau chief of Indian television channel WION, said he was attacked by 10-12 men while he was going to the airport in Rawalpindi but managed to escape before being kidnapped, suffering minor injuries during the struggle. Siddiqui recounted the details of the kidnapping attempt in a series of tweets. “I was on my way to  airport today at 8:20 am when 10-12 armed men stopped my cab and]forcibly tried to abduct me,” Siddiqui, the winner of France’s highest journalism award – The Albert Londres Prize, said in a tweet.

“Saale ko goli maaro (shoot him),” the men, who Taha said were armed with Kalashnikovs and pistols, shouted. In his post, Siddiqui further said that he had managed to escape the kidnapping attempt and that he was “safe and with the police now”.

In May last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had issued a notice to Siddiqui, known for posting comments on social media against the military, and asked him to appear before its counterterrorism wing. The Pakistani military has so far denied playing a role in any enforced disappearances, as has the civilian government. Militants have also targeted journalists in the past.  Siddiqui had previously filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court alleging that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had harassed him over the phone. On May 24, the court had asked the FIA to stop harassing the journalist. Incidents of enforced disappearances have been reported with alarming frequency in Pakistan. In November, the 2017 World Press Freedom Index, placed Pakistan among the most dangerous countries for journalists. Pakistan was ranked 139th out of 180 countries.