KARACHI: The father of a journalist from one of Pakistan’s top television news networks said on Tuesday he was picked up from his home in Karachi city by plain-clothes and uniformed officials and his whereabouts were unknown while the family feared for his safety.

The journalist, Hafiz Maaz Bin Khalid, works as a Digital Media Coordinator for ARY News. A video shared with media by the family showed officers taking Khalid away in a police van from Karachi’s Buffer Zone area early on Tuesday morning. 

“They arrived in three mobile vans and a double cabin, climbed over the wall, and took my son with them, claiming they were taking him for investigation to the Crime Investigation Agency center,” Khalil Ur Rehman, the journalist’s father, told Arab News, adding that officers, who were both in police uniform and plain clothes, did not produce warrants when asked. 

“They took him along with his national identity card and mobile phone. When I went to the CIA center, I was told my son was not brought there. I am unaware of his whereabouts,” the father added.

“They had informed us that they were taking Maaz for questioning for an hour. Almost ten hours have passed, but we are still unaware.”

Senior Superintendent of Police Zeeshan Siddiqui told Arab News police had not arrested the journalist and declined further comment. Neither police nor family commented on why Khalid might have been arrested but two of his colleagues at ARY who declined to be named said they believed it was over recent social media posts critical of the army and police.

Journalists in Pakistan are increasingly reporting on growing media censorship, with many blaming Pakistan’s powerful military for putting pressure on critical voices. The military and the government deny they suppress the press. 

In a report released on May 3 to coincide with World Press Freedom Day, the International Federation of Journalists watchdog said more than 300 people associated with the information industry in Pakistan had faced repressive state tactics designed to quell dissent during the course of about a year.

“Over 300 journalists and bloggers this year were affected by state coercion and targeted, including dozens of journalists arrested for durations between several hours to four weeks and nearly 60 served legal notices or summons for their journalism work or personal dissent online,” the IFJ Pakistan country report for 2023-2024 said. “At least eight were charged for alleged sedition, terrorism and incitement to violence – all serious charges carrying lengthy sentences and even the death penalty.”

The report also said four journalists were killed during the period under review while at least 59 journalists and bloggers were charged with sedition, terrorism, incitement to violence, defamation or contempt.
 

ISLAMABAD: The election for the presidency of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) will be held today, Tuesday, in Lahore, the party said in a statement, with three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif expected to take over the top position after a hiatus of six years.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif resigned as PML-N president earlier this month saying it was time for his elder brother to “resume his rightful place” as the party’s leader.
Sharif, who founded the PML-N in 1993, stepped down as its president in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled that an individual disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, which outline the rules for qualification and disqualification for parliamentarians, could not serve as the head of a political party. 
“The central general council meeting of the party will be held in Lahore today (Tuesday) for the election of PML-N President,” the PML-N said in a statement.
“Voting will be held in the general council meeting at 4 p.m. in a local hotel in Lahore. If only one candidate submits papers then the election will be uncontested, otherwise the election will be by show of hands.”
Around 3,500 members of the party’s general council are expected to vote today.
The election schedule had been announced by the party’s election commission, PML-N Chief Election Commissioner Rana Sanaullah said in a press conference on Monday.
“11 nomination papers have been issued to different party leaders including Sharif, Bashir Memon, Irfan Siddiqui, Anusha Rehman, Raja Farooq Haider, Shah Ghulam Qadir,” Sanaullah told reporters. 
Sharif was disqualified as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July 2017, which declared him “dishonest” for not disclosing a separate monthly income from a company owned by his son. The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to open a criminal trial into the ownership of London flats and several other revelations about the ex-PM’s family wealth disclosed in the Panama Papers’ leaks. 
A year later, following the investigations ordered by the court, Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of the upscale London flat and subsequently to seven years in jail in a separate case for being unable to prove the source of income that had led to his ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia. 
Sharif has since been acquitted in both cases, which he always maintained were politically motivated. 
As Sharif faced a slew of cases, Shehbaz Sharif, his younger brother, subsequently became president of the PML-N but had always maintained it was a temporary arrangement until his brother was exonerated by the courts.
After being jailed in 2018, Sharif flew to London in 2019 after a court allowed him to leave for medical treatment, on the condition he returned when fit. However, he went into exile and ran his party affairs from London, while former cricketer Imran Khan ruled as prime minister until April 2022, when he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. 
Shehbaz took over after Khan and became prime minister for 16 months ahead of general elections on Feb. 8, after which he once again came to power in March and became premier and is now ruling Pakistan through a fragile coalition with smaller parties.
Sharif returned from exile to Pakistan in October last year in a chartered jet, surrounded by supporters and journalists.