Govt urged to facilitate Afghan journalists until resettlement cases are processed

ISLAMABAD: Pak-Afghan Journalists Solidarity Network (PAJSN) has called on the Shehbaz Sharif government to stop authorities from detaining and harassing Afghan journalists and facilitate them until their resettlement cases are processed in different western embassies in Islamabad.

“The detention of senior Afghan journalist Mehmood Kochai on Thursday along with his son was a matter of great concerns for the Network and Afghan journalist community in Pakistan,” PAJSN convenor Iqbal Khattak said in a press statement on Friday. PAJSN has been established to facilitate collaboration between the journalists’ communities of Pakistan and Afghanistan to help address various challenges facing the exiled Afghan journalists during their transition period in Pakistan. The statement said Mehmood Kochai already applied online for renewal of his visa and he shared a document provided by foreign embassy confirming the journalist’s case for resettlement. “The detention brought agony for the journalist and his family,” the statement read. The journalist was freed hours later after PAJSN members approached senior government officials to seek urgent release of the Afghan journalist from the detention centre in Islamabad. “The Afghan journalists want to stay legally and ready to pay for visas but problem is that Pakistan is issuing them visa for just a month period. The duration may be increased for the visa giving these traumatised Afghan journalists a rest from mental and physical stress,” the statement read.