Daily Jang reporter Askari picked up

KARACHI: Daily Jang’s senior reporter Syed Muhammad Askari was picked up late Saturday night from near the Qayyumabad KPT Interchange on Korangi Road.

Without citing any reason, masked men in uniform and plain clothes intercepted his car while he was returning from a ceremony. Askari introduced himself to the personnel and told them that he was a reporter of Daily Jang, but they still took him away in a mobile while beating him up. When a friend of the reporter contacted police helpline Madadgar 15 and narrated the incident, the policeman who had received the call asked him to approach the relevant police station. The whereabouts of the reporter could not be traced until the small hours of Sunday. The SHO of the Zaman Town police station, Rao Rafiq, was informed about the incident, but the police denied any knowledge of it. Korangi SSP Tariq Nawaz said information of the incident was being obtained. The family has demanded the authorities recover Askari immediately. Several journalists had earlier been picked up in a similar manner in Karachi.Meanwhile, the office-bearers of the Karachi Press Club, Karachi Union of Journalists and the Education Reporters Association have condemned the incident and demanded Askari’s immediate recovery.