Kidnapped journalist accuses Pakistani secret service agents

Mohammad Rafique Baloch, the vice-president of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), was kidnapped yesterday in south Karachi and held for several hours. He was on his way to Karachi’s high court to defend pay and working conditions of journalists in Sindh province at a hearing initiated by the KUJ when the incident took place. It is quite clear that the aim of the attackers was to prevent him from attending the hearing. Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation and arrest those guilty of this kidnapping as soon as possible. If the secret services are indeed behind this incident, as Baloch believes, the Pakistani government should, without fail, provide an explanation for this unacceptable behaviour aimed at preventing journalists from defending their rights. “I think the secret services are behind my brief disappearance,” Baloch told Reporters Without Borders. “They kept me blindfolded for four hours.” He said he suspected that one of his abductors was a secret service agent who had been ordered to keep him away from the trial to avoid trouble. Pakistan is the world’s most dangerous country for journalists. Thirteen have lost their lives there in the past 13 months.