A Karachi-based social media activist, Arsalan Khan, has reportedly gone missing from the city’s Clifton area. His friends claimrf he was picked up by law enforcement agencies.
However, Senior Superintendent of Police South, Asad Raza, refused any connection with the alleged abduction. He said the police had not detained the activist. His family has not approached the police yet to lodge any complaint, the officer added. Arsalan – known as AK-47 on Twitter – has worked as a journalist for different broadcasters in the past. He has also been active on Twitter and is currently associated with a civil society organisation called Karachi Bachao Tehreek. Amnesty International South Asia also issued a statement, expressing concern about his alleged disappearance. “We are deeply concerned about the abduction of journalist Arsalan Khan from his home in Karachi today at 4am. Pakistan must end this abhorrent practice of punishing dissent by wrenching people away from their loved ones,” the statement said.
It noted that the newly appointed Inter-Ministerial Committee on Missing Persons must take note of the “jarring disconnect between what they are saying and what is actually happening on the ground.” PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said he saw a video message of Arsalan’s wife, adding she was told that her husband “speaks and writes a lot on social media”. “Speaking and writing is not a crime, but forcibly abducting and disappearing a citizen is,” the senator said. Meanwhile, Karachi Bachao Tehreek (KBT) – an alliance of several political and civil society organisations – also expressed concern about what they called the “abduction” of its activist and announced a protest against his disappearance on Friday evening. Khurram Nayar, Convener of the KBT, said that Arsalan was a volunteer.
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