(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
AFP
Islamabad: A Pakistani journalist investigating alleged fatalities during protests in support of jailed ex-prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested under anti-terror laws, his lawyer said Thursday.
This week more than 10,000 marchers flooded Islamabad, defying a ban on public gatherings before being evicted in a sweeping security crackdown.
The government said at least five security personnel were killed whilst Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party allege at least 10 of their own were shot dead by security forces.
Government ministers have denied the allegations.
Matiullah Jan, a presenter for TV channel Neo News with a popular YouTube channel, and another reporter were investigating the claims at Islamabad's PIMS Hospital when they were detained late Wednesday, his lawyer Imaan Mazari said.
"They were trying to ascertain the total number of deaths," she told AFP. "They were doing their journalistic duties."
She said the second journalist was released but Jan has remained in custody.
Islamabad police issued a report accusing him of drug possession and assaulting an officer whilst under the influence.
A case "has been registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act for the attempted murder of a policeman on duty", the report said.
Mazari said Jan was brought before an anti-terror court in Islamabad for a hearing on Thursday afternoon where he was remanded in custody for two days.
"The reason for this, you all know, is that I was working on the dead bodies," he told reporters as he entered court.
Successive Pakistan governments have been criticised by rights monitors for using overbroad anti-terrorism legislation to quash dissent.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan demanded Jan's "immediate and unconditional release".
"This authoritarian tactic to silence journalists must cease," the organisation said in a statement on social media site X.
Jan has a history of criticising Pakistan's powerful military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of the country's civilian leaders.
He was also briefly detained by uniformed men in the middle of Khan's four-year tenure in 2020.
The Asia office of the Committee to Protect Journalists said "authorities must ensure Jan's safety and immediate release".
More than 1,000 marchers were arrested over the three days of unrest in Islamabad, police said.
Amnesty International said security forces used "unlawful and excessive force" on crowds.
But Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters on Wednesday PTI "are lying saying people have died".
Protesters' chief demand was the release of Khan, who has been jailed since August 2023 and snarled in a succession of legal cases he insists were orchestrated to prevent his comeback in February elections.
PTI won more seats than any other party in the vote but were shut out of power by a coalition of parties considered close to the military establishment.
The party has staged regular protests alleging the vote was rigged, but this week was the largest by far to grip the capital since the poll.
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