- A journalist kidnapped and released
The episode of the kidnaping and then release of journalist Matiullah Jan on Wednesday in Islamabad has thrown a garish light on Pakistan, as a land where journalists are still kidnapped for what they might report. The government needs to consider the effect of the kidnapping in its capital of a journalist on the world’s investors, already rendered skittish by the covid-19 pandemic. One of the more bizarre elements of the episode was how the abduction was carried out by people in police uniforms, using what seemed to be police vehicles. An important takeaway was that Mr Jan was presumably released because of the immediate widespread outcry, which changed the nature of the incident, from that of a kidnapping by criminals, to that of a journalist being punished for what he had broadcast.
Mr Jan was facing contempt proceedings for something he had broadcast while tweeting, in front of the Supreme Court. As a matter of fact, that probably showed the path to be taken: legal proceedings. However, that has been avoided, and Mr Jan’s abductors are assumed to be the shadowy agencies that do not emerge into the spotlight. However, they prefer to execute the will of the government by applying such scare tactics, such naked displays of power, as in Mr Jan’s case. After all, impersonating policemen and kidnapping a peaceable pressman beats doing anything that actually runs any risk of violent resistance.
At a time when the country is facing a number of challenges, when there are still elements in Waziristan to be tackled, when Balochistan is facing separatist sabotage, at the hands of RAW-funded groups, it seems counter-productive to go after people like Mr Jan, who are after all doing nothing more than expressing an opinion. Of course, Islamic militants and Baloch separatists are not as easy a target as Mr Jan was. It may be that opinion is only that of one person, but it must be protected against attempts to silence it. Such an opinion is itself in the public domain, and thus subject to legal proceedings, but strong-arm tactics will never succeed. They have never worked before, and will not work now.
