IFJ, CPJ Condemn Abduction of Senior Baloch Journalist in Karachi

IFJ, CPJ Condemn Abduction of Senior Baloch

Journalist in Karachi

The Baloch Hal News:

BRUSSELS/ NEW YORK/KARACHI: In two different statements of condemnation, international media watchdogs striving for the freedom of the press and protection of journalists strongly criticized the abduction and manhandling of Mohammad Rafique Baloch, a veteran Karachi-based journalist and the vice-president of the Karachi Union of Journalists(KUJ).

According to Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), reports, Baloch was on his way to the Sindh High Court, in Karachi on March 21 to attend a hearing of the case filed before the bench on the implementation of the Seventh Wage Award for journalists, when he was intercepted, bundled into a vehicle and taken to an unknown location.

Baloch was verbally abused and severely manhandled by his unidentified abductors. He was held for close to four hours before being released in a remote part of Karachi at 1pm.

“The IFJ is deeply disturbed by this blatant intimidation of a senior journalist and trade unionist in Pakistan,” International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“We join the PFUJ in demanding a quick and credible investigation into this incident and the imposition of the severest punishment available under the law for those who carried out the abduction”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) said it joined colleagues in Pakistan in calling for an immediate investigation into Monday’s abduction and abuse of senior journalist and vice president of the Karachi Union of Journalists, Mohammad Rafique Baloch.

According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Baloch was on his way to the Sindh High Court, in Karachi, when he was picked up by a group of men, forced into a vehicle, taken to an unknown destination, and released in a remote area of the city around 1 a.m. this morning. He had been picked up near the Sindh Legislative Assembly building, close to the center of the sprawling city.

The PFUJ said Baloch was verbally abused and manhandled by his abductors. The group called for an impartial inquiry into the incident.

“The most recent attack on Mohammad Rafique Baloch is an indicator of the government’s increasing inability to protect its citizens, including journalists,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “We fear that this attack will go uninvestigated as so many others have.”

On January 13, Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar was shot and killed in Karachi shortly after covering gang violence in the city. On Monday, Capital City Police Officer Saud Mirza told a press conference about the arrest of a group of alleged ‘contract killers” that any progress into the investigation of Babar would be made at “an appropriate time.”

In early September 2010, men in police uniforms abducted and beat Umar Cheema, a correspondent of the English-language daily The News in Islamabad. Men in police uniforms seized Cheema while he was driving in a suburb of Islamabad. No arrests have been made in that case either. The well-known political reporter was held captive for more than six hours. He was dropped, bound, near his car, where he had been picked up earlier. His abductors told him to stop writing articles critical of the government, Cheema told several Pakistani papers and television stations after his release. Some reports said his captors mentioned other media outlets whose reporters would meet the same fate as Cheema.

Pakistan was the deadliest country in the world in 2010, according to CPJ data. The country also ranked 10th on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are regularly killed and authorities fail to solve the crimes.