Islamabad Police arrested journalist Matiullah Jan on Thursday after information about filing a case against him emerged.
According to the media reports, Senior journalist and reporter Matiullah Jan was shifted to Margalla Police Station after his arrest by the police. It is important to note that no transcript or copy of any recorded case against Jan has been provided yet.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American non-governmental organization (NGO), also decried the senior journalist’s imprisonment. In a post on X, his family claimed that he was “abducted” from the PIMS parking lot at about 11 p.m. by “unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle”. “I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts,” according to the message.
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Meanwhile, noted human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari claims that the journalist, who is also her client, has gone missing. Mazari wrote on her official X handle, formerly Twitter, “After pleading with police at Margalla Police Station to allow us access to our client Matiullah Jan, we were finally allowed in. I checked hawalaat/lock up myself and the ppl [people] locked up inside confirmed to me that right before we came, the police took Matiullah Jan. He is missing.”
A first information report (FIR) was filed against Jan at Islamabad’s Margalla Police Station just hours after he went missing. The FIR stated that Jan was apprehended at the E-9 checkpoint in the federal capital. The FIR was filed under CrPC Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from performing his duty), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt, or restraint to the committing of the theft), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 7ATA (terrorism-related section) and a narcotics-related section.
According to the FIR, the incident began when police signaled Jan’s vehicle to stop at a checkpoint late last night. Instead of cooperating, the FIR claims that Jan drove his car toward the officers, wounding Constable Mudassir, who was on duty at the time. Furthermore, the FIR states that Jan forcibly stole police weapons and threatened policemen. The FIR also accuses the journalist of being under the influence of drugs at the time of his detention, with the substance “ice” allegedly discovered in his vehicle. Jan was detained and taken to the Margalla Police Station.
