Senior journalist and Bannu Press Club President Gohar Wazir, who mainly reports on human rights abuses in Waziristan, was allegedly abducted and tortured before being released after more than 30 hours.
According to the journalist’s statement to the police, he was taken to an undisclosed location where he was tortured by unknown men. He was released after over a day.
The journalist is associated with Khyber News and mainly reports on human rights abuses in Waziristan.
خیبر نیوز @KhyberNews247 کے نمائندہ اور بنوں پریس کلب کے صدر گوہر وزیر کو گزشتہ روز نامعلوم افراد نے اغوا کیا، سارا دن حبس بے جا میں رکھا اور اُن پر تشدد کیا۔ ارباب اختیار سے اپیل ہے کہ صحافیوں کو فرائض منصبی سے روکھنے کی بجائے ان (نامعلوم) عناصر کا راستہ روکھیں۔ @KP_Police1 pic.twitter.com/SBRrMUIie0
— Mubarak Ali (@mubarak74) April 21, 2023
In 2019, security personnel in plainclothes detained Gohar Wazir in Bannu after reporting on a protest by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).
He was held overnight at a Counterterrorism Police station with about two dozen other people. He was then transferred to a prison in Haripur District. He was later released.
Journalists in Pakistan have faced serious obstacles to their work, including harassment, intimidation, assault, arbitrary arrest and detention, abduction, and death.
Senior journalists, including former chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) Absar Alam, Matiullah Jan, Bilal Farooqi, and Asad Ali Toor among others have faced violence and persecution.
Senior journalist Gharida Farooqi recently opened up about the harassment she had to endure as a woman journalist in Pakistan in a report by The Washington Post, These women journalists were doing their jobs. That made them targets.
