Journalist released

22 Nov, 2006

Missing journalist Dilawar Khan Wazir disappeared on Monday was released by some unknown persons on Tuesday while media persons boycotted the proceedings of the Senate session to protest against the mysterious missing of their colleague from Islamabad.
Dilawar Khan Wazir, Dawn and BBC Urdu Service's correspondent in South Waziristan, went missing from Islamabad on Monday afternoon following meeting his younger brother in the Islamic International University.
According to the latest reports, Dilawar Khan Wazir was abducted by six persons from the outskirts of the federal capital on Monday and released after keeping him in the custody by more than 24 hours.
He turned up shaken, but unharmed reached at the BBC office, Islamabad, on Tuesday evening and according to him he was blindfolded and questioned about his reporting on the South Waziristan situation.
He was left outside Islamabad on Tuesday. He made his way to the BBC office, 30-minute drive away, where he was released.
The journalist said he had been held by a number of men since mid-afternoon on Monday, but he did not know their identity.
His disappearance prompted the BBC to write to the Pakistan government, which said it could not confirm whether he was in their custody. He said he was seized on the outskirts of Islamabad as he was on his way to Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, his home town.
It is point to be noted that a number of journalists have gone missing, and some have been killed, after covering stories considered sensitive by the military or the militants. In the protest, journalists on Tuesday left the press gallery soon after the recitation from the Holy Quran and continued boycott of the Senate session by sitting in the press lounge till it was postponed to the next day.
The upper House remained in the session only half an hour after offering Fateha for the departed soul of (late) Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the former president of Pakistan and chairman Senate.
But none any MP from either side of the aisle bothered to come to the press gallery to know about the concerns of the media persons.

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