US-based watchdog decries Pakistani journalist’s arrest

QUETTA, Pakistan – The Committee to Protect Journalists has decried the arrest of a Pakistani reporter who apparently used social media to criticize security agencies for alleged reluctance to arrest a lawmaker whose vehicle struck and killed a police officer.

The brother of the detained journalist, Zafar Achakzai, says he was picked up on Sunday evening by a group of men wearing both plainclothes and the uniforms of the Frontier Corps.

The brother, Asmatullah Achakzai, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the family has been unable to see or visit the journalist but that they have been promised he will be released “soon.”

Pakistan has been cracking down on journalists, making it an offence to criticize the government, the military or the police.

CPJ asks that Achakzai be released quickly and unharmed.