Four senior members of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s media team were suspected to have been detained by intelligence agencies on Saturday in a new crackdown on his party.
“International media coordinator Ahmed Janjua and three members of his social media team were kidnapped early this morning,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
CCTV footage released by the party showed Janjua being detained by men in plainclothes in Islamabad at around 4 a.m.
PTI said there has been a tough crackdown on the PTI social media team in the past two weeks. “Any attempt to restrict the flow of information to the media must be condemned. The government must ensure their safety and allow them back at the earliest,” the party demanded.
PTI leader Zulfi Bokhari said, “My team along with others have been abducted as the atrocities taking place in Pakistan are constantly being reported in the international community. The continuous violation of fundamental human rights will not continue for long.”The PTI has urged the Supreme Court to direct Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government to ensure the safe rescue of the “missing” media personnel.
PTI also released a list of 10 of its journalists and their next of kin who were “abducted by police and intelligence agencies.”
There has been direct clashes between the powerful military and the 71-year-old Khan’s party since he was ousted from power two years ago.
Khan has been in jail in multiple cases since August last year and Shehbaz’s government announced it would ban the PTI, calling it a “terror organisation”.
First uploaded: 20 July 2024 20:29 IST
