ISLAMABAD: Journalists working in Pakistan should be allowed to do their work, the US State Departments said on Thursday, amid arbitrary arrests of journalist seen favoring former prime minister Imran Khan.
Police officers this month took away a Pakistani journalist, Zubair Anjum, from his home in the southern port city of Karachi, with journalist organizations labeling the incident as “abduction.” Anjum, who works as a senior news producer for Pakistan’s Geo News channel, returned home a day later.
Last month, Sami Abraham, a prominent Pakistani television journalist, went missing apparently because of his public support to Khan. Abraham returned home days later on May 30. Another pro-Khan TV journalist, Imran Riaz, went missing last month and has yet to be found.
Asked about the state of press freedom and the arrest of pro-Khan journalists in Pakistan, a US State Department spokesman said they believed that the press performed a “critical function” in democratic societies.
“We expect that journalists covering the events in Pakistan should all be allowed to do their work,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a news briefing in Washington.
“A free and independent press is a vital, core institution that undergirds healthy democracies by ensuring that electorates can make informed decisions and holding government officials accountable.”
Khan, who was ousted in a no-trust vote last year, has since been at loggerheads with the Pakistani government and the military, and continues to struggle for snap nationwide elections.
His brief arrest in a graft case on May 9 sparked violent protests across Pakistan, with some of his supporters setting fire to military installations, public property and clashing with the law enforcement.
The unprecedented protests prompted the government to launch a crackdown on members of Khan’s party, many of whom have since jumped ship, and his supporters among the masses.
The former premier accuses the government and the powerful military of trying to keep him out of the election race, but the government maintains only those who partook in violence and vandalism are being dealt with under the law.
