Abduction video of journalist Matiullah Jan sparks social media outcry in Pakistan

Matiullah Jan, a prominent Pakistani journalist, was picked up by unidentified armed men in Islamabad in broad daylight on Tuesday. He was released hours after his abduction. However, a video, which appears to be that of the abduction, has been doing rounds on social media. It has sparked outrage among users online and many have commented on the Pakistan government’s “regime of fear and terror”.

The CCTV footage shows several uniformed men getting down from three cars and forcefully picking Jan up, who was present on the street where the cars stopped. According to a BBC report, the journalist was dropping his wife off to her college, whose CCTV cameras recorded the incident.

Jan was abducted a day before he was supposed to be produced in the one of the country’s superior courts for criticising a top judge over his verdict regarding a case.

After being released, Matiullah Jan took to Twitter and wrote, “I am back home safe & sound. God has been kind to me & my family.”

The court expressed concern at the abduction of Matiullah Jan, who was later freed, and noted that kidnappers wore police uniforms to “scare” other people too, reported news agency PTI.