Journalists’ body condemns arrest of reporter

The Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) has condemned the arrest of Syed Asad Ali, a crime reporter, who was charged by the police in drug trafficking.

The KUJ statement said on Sunday that Ali was a committed journalist actively exposing drug traffickers and unscrupulous police officials who were hand in glove with criminals, adding that he consistently filed reports based on facts but undesirable to outlaws and their accomplices in the police.

KUJ President Ashraf Khan and General Secretary Ahmed Khan Malik demanded of the chief minister, the home minister and the Sindh and Karachi police chiefs to immediately take notice of Ali’s arrest. They said he should be released without delay and an inquiry committee should be formed to investigate the charges against him.

According to Ali’s family, after he published a series of news against the nexus between police and drug mafias, he was arrested on Wednesday by the Bahadurabad police, but his arrest was disclosed late on Friday night after keeping him illegal confinement for two days.

The family has already demanded the CM, the police and Rangers chiefs for Sindh and the city police chief to take notice of the fake FIR registered against Ali. The KUJ also condemned the mysterious murder of Ilyas Warsi, a senior Hyderabad-based journalist who was found dead in his flat on Saturday.