Senior journalist Matiullah Jan 'arrested' in Islamabad

• No copy of any recorded case against Jan has been provided yet.
• American NGO condemns arrest against senior journalist in Islamabad.
• Arrest takes place after reports of filing case against Jan emerged.

Senior journalist and reporter Matiullah Jan was arrested by Islamabad Police on Thursday after information of a filing a case against him emerged, sources told Geo News on Thursday.

Jan was shifted to Margalla Police Station after his arrest by the police, the sources said. It is important to note that no transcript or copy of any recorded case against Jan has been provided yet.

Moreover, American non-governmental organisation (NGO) Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the senior journalist’s arrest.

In a post on X, his family said that he had been "abducted" from the parking of PIMS at around 11pm by "unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle".

"I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts," the post added.

Meanwhile, prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari has said that the journalist, who is also her client, is "missing".

"After pleading with police at Margalla Police Station to allow us access to our client Matiullah Jan, we were finally allowed in. I checked hawalaat/lock up myself and the ppl [people] locked up inside confirmed to me that right before we came, the police took Matiullah Jan. He is missing," Mazari wrote on her official X handle, formerly Twitter.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Pakistan ranked 12th out of the 13 worst offenders on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index in 2024.

At least 39 journalists have been murdered in Pakistan since 1992. In the vast majority of these cases, 36, nobody has been held accountable, whereas, in three cases, there has been some, though not full, accountability, as per the NGO.

Earlier in 2020, Jan went missing in Islamabad and returned home after nearly 12 hours.

After returning, he had thanked the national and international journalist community, politicians, judiciary and others for their “quick response” which led to his safe return.