Journalist Taha Siddiqui beaten by '10-12 armed men'

[LegendInzi]

Islamabad Police on Wednesday began investigating an "attempt by 10-12 armed men" to abduct journalist Taha Siddiqui.

Siddiqui was "beaten [and] threatened with death", said journalist Asad Hashim in a tweet.

Hashim, who accompanied Siddiqui to Koral police station, added that Siddiqui's belongings were also taken.

Siddiqui was piled into a car by the armed men but managed to escape by jumping out of the moving vehicle.

"He only escaped by running through oncoming traffic," Hashim said in another tweet.

Superintendent Police Dr Mustafa Tanveer confirmed that Siddiqui, who is the Pakistan bureau chief at World Is One News, approached police soon after the incident.

Siddiqui posted a message via journalist Cyril Almeida's Twitter account, recounting the details of the kidnapping attempt. He started the tweet by identifying himself and clarifying that he was using Almeida's account.

Siddiqui went on to say: "I was on my way to [the] airport today at 8:20 am when 10-12 armed men stopped my cab [and] forcibly tried to abduct me." Speaking to DawnNews, SP Tanveer reiterated that Siddiqui was in a private taxi when he was stopped by armed men.

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."

"Looking for support in any way possible," Siddiqui added, ending his tweet with the hashtag #StopEnforcedDisappearances.

The attacks on Taha Siddiqui and other Pakistani journalists must be immediately and effectively investigated by the authorities, said Amnesty International in a press release.

“Journalists like Taha Siddiqui have a right to carry out their work freely and without fear," Deputy South Asia Director at Amnesty International Omar Waraich said while adding that journalism is not a crime, but attacking journalists is.

"These crimes must be immediately and effectively investigated. All journalists should be provided the protection they require. And there must be a clear and unequivocal commitment by the Pakistani authorities to end impunity for attacks on journalists,” Waraich said.

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.

Siddiqui had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court alleging that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had harassed him over the phone.

In his petition, Siddiqui had alleged that a man named Noman Bodla, who identified himself as a member of the Counter Terrorism Department of the FIA, had called him and attempted to pressure him into appearing for an 'interrogation' at the FIA headquarters.

He had added in his petition that Siddiqui mentioned that he "was reluctant to go to the FIA Headquarters on the basis that there have been several reports in the press where such phone calls are made and once the person who is to be interrogated sets out to the FIA Headquarters, he is either picked up and disappeared or detained illegally."

On May 24, the IHC had asked the FIA to stop harassing the journalist.

Incidents of enforced disappearances have been reported with alarming frequency in Pakistan.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1382025/j...y-10-12-armed-men-escapes-attempted-abduction

 

[DW44]

This is part of life in Pakistan. You absolutely can't speak negatively of the military if you have any kind of public profile and following, no matter how minor (a few thousand likes on your facebook page is more than enough), or you run the very real risk of becoming another statistic, one of the thousands of "missing persons" in Pakistan. If you really think of yourself as a some hotshot journalist, go unturn a stone that's never been turned before and write columns in Urdu dailies exposing how corrupt Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali are. This is off limits.

 

[zimmz]

Many think on SM that this was either topi drama or he exaggerated ten folds. How could one escape from 12 armed men (supposedly highly trained military agency) unless you are some bollywood action hero. If they were armed they planned to kill him so why they let him escape?

 

[Pakistanian]

This is part of life in Pakistan. You absolutely can't speak negatively of the military if you have any kind of public profile and following, no matter how minor (a few thousand likes on your facebook page is more than enough), or you run the very real risk of becoming another statistic, one of the thousands of "missing persons" in Pakistan. If you really think of yourself as a some hotshot journalist, go unturn a stone that's never been turned before and write columns in Urdu dailies exposing how corrupt Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali are. This is off limits.

The first two guys you named are corrupt, the last guy you named is a foreign terrorist.

 

[King-Misbah]

This is part of life in Pakistan. You absolutely can't speak negatively of the military if you have any kind of public profile and following, no matter how minor (a few thousand likes on your facebook page is more than enough), or you run the very real risk of becoming another statistic, one of the thousands of "missing persons" in Pakistan. If you really think of yourself as a some hotshot journalist, go unturn a stone that's never been turned before and write columns in Urdu dailies exposing how corrupt Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali are. This is off limits.

Any proof that the military was involved?

 

[saeedhk]

The Boys at it again!Sigh!

 

[DW44]

Any proof that the military was involved?

No but then has anyone investigated the abductions? The common theme here is that all the people who went missing were critics of the army with a sizeable following on social media. Waqas Goraya, for instance, was doing to them what Bol or ARY do to politicians the army doesn't like i.e. exposing their corruption and asking why the public doesn't hold them to the same standard politicians are held to. Salman Haider was a human rights activist who was campaigning for the release of, and I love the irony here, missing persons. Goraya, who has now been released, is on record naming the military as his abductors while Haider, without explicitly naming them, has shared details of his time in captivity that hint not so subtly at who abducted him.

Personally, I find this "any proof" line of reasoning when it comes to the military and enforced disappearances to be the height of intellectual dishonesty because this is hardly something that will be investigated by the police or a court ordered JIT but there's also a reason suspicion immediately goes to the army in such cases consider they have a long history of doing so.

 

[Reddy]

No but then has anyone investigated the abductions? The common theme here is that all the people who went missing were critics of the army with a sizeable following on social media. Waqas Goraya, for instance, was doing to them what Bol or ARY do to politicians the army doesn't like i.e. exposing their corruption and asking why the public doesn't hold them to the same standard politicians are held to. Salman Haider was a human rights activist who was campaigning for the release of, and I love the irony here, missing persons. Goraya, who has now been released, is on record naming the military as his abductors while Haider, without explicitly naming them, has shared details of his time in captivity that hint not so subtly at who abducted him.

Personally, I find this "any proof" line of reasoning when it comes to the military and enforced disappearances to be the height of intellectual dishonesty because this is hardly something that will be investigated by the police or a court ordered JIT but there's also a reason suspicion immediately goes to the army in such cases consider they have a long history of doing so.

Yup, Whenever i have observed any Pakistani news channel or website they are all shouting on politicians and running negative programs on politicians but nobody dare run a similar debate or program on Army which is quite jarring when the fact is that Army always has the control on Pakistani state either directly or indirectly.

 

[the Great Khan]

it was 4-5 guys according to his own FIR statement and he miraculously escaped and ran and caught a taxi. All while these armed men seemingly sat in a car with machine guns. I think our spooks need to hire this guy.

He also works for WION and one only needs to see who owns that organisation to doubt his integrity.

 

[zimmz]

Looks like ti was failed attempt of Taha S. aka James Bond to seek attention. Even other journalists made fun of his poorly scripted story in FIR and inconsistency on wards from the first tweet he did from Cyril's twitter account.

 

[the Great Khan]

Looks like ti was failed attempt of Taha S. aka James Bond to seek attention. Even other journalists made fun of his poorly scripted story in FIR and inconsistency on wards from the first tweet he did from Cyril's twitter account.

i detest Cyril taha etc for their hypocritical journalism. But I do follow them on twitter..

 

[shah_1]

i detest Cyril taha etc for their hypocritical journalism. But I do follow them on twitter..

Cryill re tweeted Brahamdagh bugti tweets

 

[the Great Khan]

Cryill re tweeted Brahamdagh bugti tweets

yes indeed. And calls Imran the trump of pakistan..I mean he's a poor journalist and will never engage with people who can actually argue against his very very weak journalism. They are simply labelled right wingers or reactionaries. Its beyond a joke.