Journalist Waris Raza returns home after hours in custody

• "I have returned safely to my house," senior journalist Waris Raza says.
• Journalist says the men who had taken him had blindfolded him.
• I was asked questions about my journalistic duties, columns, he adds.

KARACHI: Senior journalist Waris Raza returned to his home in Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal area after he was taken into custody from his residence on Tuesday night.

"I have returned safely to my house," the senior journalist said, whose brief detention had invited criticism from media bodies, including the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ).

The journalist, speaking to an office holder of the KUJ, said the men who had taken him into custody had blindfolded him and kept asking him questions about his journalistic duties and his columns.

"The men who took me blindfolded me [...] they left me at the Mobina Town Police Station a while ago," the journalist said.

The journalist recently compiled a book on PFUJ's 70-year struggle for press freedom.

"We demand the immediate release of Waris Raza," the PFUJ said, after news broke of the journalist being taken away.

Responding to the incident, senior journalist and analyst Mazhar Abbas said: "Waris Raza not returning to his house for hours is a matter of concern."

Karachi Press Club (KPC) President Fazil Jamili and other members of the club condemned the incident and demanded the immediate release of the senior journalist.

In response to the incident, PFUJ had called for a country-wide protest, with demonstrations to take place at every press club of the country.