Imran Riaz Khan, a renowned Pakistani journalist and political commentator who had been missing for over four months, has been found, Dawn reported quoting Sialkot police on Monday morning.
“Journalist and anchor Imran Riaz Khan has been safely recovered. He is now with his family,” Sialkot police said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The 47-year-old controversial television host and commentator, with over three million followers on YouTube, was reportedly arrested two days after violent protests broke out across the country following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman ), Imran Khan, in May. 9.
Dawn reported that Riaz Khan was last heard from being taken to Cantt Police Station after his arrest and then to Sialkot Jail. On May 15, a law enforcement official told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the journalist had been released from jail after giving a written undertaking. His whereabouts remained unknown.
On May 16, Imran Khan’s father Muhammad Riaz lodged an FIR of the journalist’s alleged kidnapping with the Sialkot Civil Lines Police.
Punjab Inspector General Usman Anwar and Sialkot District Police Officer Hassan Iqbal confirmed to Dawn that Imram was now “safe at home”.
“By the special blessing, grace and mercy of God, I have brought back my prince,” Riaz Khan’s lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, also confirmed on social media.
“It has taken a long time due to numerous difficulties, the last limit of understanding of the matter, the weakness of the judiciary and the current ineffective public constitution and legal impotence,” he said.
The lawyer added: “Despite the unspeakable circumstances, Allah Almighty showed us this best day. Just boundless gratitude right now.”
Pakistan has long been an unsafe country for journalists. In recent years, Pakistani activists and journalists have been increasingly targeted by the government and security establishment.
Journalist Arshad Sharif, who was critical of the Pakistan army, was killed in Kenya last October as he fled the country citing threats to his life from security agencies.
Riaz Khan was arrested on charges of inciting people to violence through his reports. Imran was detained under the coalition government of then Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He was arrested on May 11. This came two days after violence broke out in Pakistan when Imran Khan was arrested in the Toshakhana case. Riaz Khan was allegedly a strong supporter of Imran Khan and the army.
Sharif dissolved parliament and his government in August, when his term ended, and a caretaker administration subsequently took over overseeing elections in Pakistan.
Reporters Without Borders, known worldwide by its French acronym RSF, said in late May that it had received information from “confidential diplomatic sources” that Riaz Khan was tortured and “may even have died while in detention.”
Human rights groups have since condemned it as a “forced disappearance.”
(With contributions from agencies)
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