Islamabad: A prominent Pakistani television journalist Sami Abrahim, known for his public support of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has gone missing, his family and his employer said.
Abrahim’s disappearance was first announced in a police tweet late Wednesday, hours after he went missing. His family and the Karachi-based independent BOL television, where Abrahim works, claimed on Thursday that he had been abducted.
Abrahim has long publicly opposed the government of Khan’s successor, Premier Shahbaz Sharif. Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, was in office in 2018-2022 and was ousted in a no-confidence vote in the parliament last year.
In a news announcement, BOL TV said Abrahim was taken by unidentified men on Wednesday. Abrahim’s brother, Ali Raza, filed a police complaint claiming that eight people in four vehicles intercepted his brother’s car on his way back home from work in the capital, Islamabad, and took him away. His driver was unharmed.
Abrahim’s disappearance comes two weeks after another pro-Khan TV journalist, Imran Riaz, went missing. Pakistani police have denied detaining him. Reporters Without Borders — the international media watchdog also known by its French acronym RSF — expressed concern on Tuesday for Riaz’s safety.
