Soon after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad granted bail to senior journalist Matiullah Jan in a terrorism and narcotics case, he was brought to Pakistan’s notorious Adiala Jail.
Islamabad Police took Matiullah Jan to Adiala Jail where he will submit his robkar (order of the court) before his release on bail.
Matiullah Jan’s arrest was widely derided as “bogus” amid calls for his release. He was detained in Islamabad on Wednesday night and his son alleged that “unknown individuals” had kidnapped the journalist. He was later booked in a terrorism and narcotics case.
On Friday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended Matiullah Jan’s two-day physical remand that was granted to the police on Thursday. The court ordered the authorities to consider him on judicial remand instead of physical remand.
On Thursday, Islamabad Police arrested Matiullah Jan after an alleged altercation at a security checkpoint in the federal capital.
The incident occurred when Matiullah Jan, while driving in the wee hours of Thursday, was reportedly ordered to stop at an E-9 checkpoint by personnel of Islamabad Police.
According to the FIR (First Information Report) registered by Islamabad Police, Matiullah Jan did not stop his vehicle at the checkpoint and it hit a policeman on duty and injured him.
After the incident, Matiullah Jan allegedly seized the officer’s government-issued weapon and threatened to kill him. According to the police, Matiullah Jan was allegedly “under the influence” at the time of the incident. Matiullah Jan was taken into custody and shifted to Margalla Police Station, where a case was registered against him.
Lawyer and rights activist Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir said that Matiullah Jan has gone “missing”. Taking to Twitter, she wrote, “After pleading with police at Margalla Police Station to allow us access to our client Matiullah Jan, we were finally allowed in. The people locked up inside confirmed to me that right before we came, the police took Matiullah Jan. He is missing.”
Matiullah Jan’s son Abdul Razzaq said in an X post that his father was abducted from the parking lot of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad at around 11pm by unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle. He added that journalist Saqib Bashir, who was with Matiullah Jan at the time of the incident, was also abducted but released after a short while.