The Curious Case of Media ‘freedom’ in Pakistan

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Abstract

Pakistan yet again featured on global headlines when on Tuesday, May 21 2020, a journalist, relatively critical of the country’s military and security agencies, was kidnapped in broad daylight by men in police uniforms. Matiullah Jan, who works in Islamabad, was picked up at around 11 a.m. by 10 men after he arrived at a school to drop off his wife for work. The kidnapping became the headline on the country’s social media – with journalist associations, civil society and opposition politicians demanding Jan’s release. Twelve hours after his kidnapping, and after consistent pressure exerted by civil society on social media, Jan posted on his Twitter account that he was back at home safe: I am back home safe & sound. God has been kind to me & my family. I am grateful to friends, national & int. journalist community, political parties, social media & rights activists, lawyers’ bodies, the judiciary for their quick response which made it possible, Jan tweeted. While narrating the ordeal of his kidnapping on his YouTube channel, Jan explained how men in Police uniforms picked him up from outside his wife’s school. He further explained that soon after he was picked up, he was kept in a cell in an unknown location with his face and eyes covered. He believed that his kidnappers were the same people ‘who have always remained against democracy and the country’s constitution’. […]