Journalist escapes abduction attempt in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: A journalist Taha Siddiqui escaped an abduction attempt by 10-12 armed men here on Wednesday while heading towards the airport. The Koral Police Station have received an application and started investigating the issue. Taha Siddiqui is the bureau chief of World Is One News (WION) in Islamabad.

The journalist told the police that he was on his way to the airport at 8:20am when 10-12 armed men stopped his cab and forcibly tried to abduct him. He further narrated that first a white Vitz car stopped him at the airport flyover at the Islamabad Highway and later armed men from two Vigo double cabins also jumped out and tried to abduct him, but he managed to escape while jumping on the green belt and because of high traffic flow he managed to get away.

The journalist said that during the incident, he sought help from a vehicle of law enforcement agencies, which was passing by, but it did not stop. He said he then managed to take lift from a taxi and a Suzuki pickup to reach the police station. The attackers went away while taking all the belongings of the journalist that include his luggage, laptop, cellphone, passport, etc.

The attacks on Taha Siddiqui and other Pakistani journalists must be immediately and effectively investigated by the authorities, said Amnesty International in a press release. AFP adds: Siddiqui is the Pakistani bureau chief of Indian television channel WION and has reported for France 24. He had previously complained of being harassed for publishing bold critiques.

The Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists said it had contacted Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal "to direct the concerned officials to investigate the incident of attempted kidnapping of a senior journalist".