KARACHI: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called upon Malaysian authorities to explain how a Pakistani journalist who had been living as a refugee in Malaysia for years — after allegedly being kidnapped and tortured by an intelligence agency — came to be deported back to Pakistan.

RSF also called on the Pakistani government to immediately state where the journalist is now.

According to an RSF press release, Syed Fawad Ali Shah, also known as Fawad Shah, disappeared in Malaysia on Aug 23.

Malaysia’s home affairs minister acknowledged that he was deported back to Pakistan in August at the request of the Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian authorities said they had deported Mr Shah because the Pakistani authorities told them he was a police officer who was the subject of disciplinary proceedings.

But this is not true, RSF said, adding that Mr Shah has never been a police officer and he had in fact been residing in a completely legal fashion in Malaysia under the refugee status granted him since 2014 by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, because he had previously been kidnapped for his work.

It said Mr Shah was held for three-and-a-half months in a cellar and was tortured, probably as a result of his investigative stories about enforced disappearances.

“Due to the fault of the Malaysian authorities, no one knows Syed Fawad Ali Shah’s current whereabouts and in what circumstance he survives,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“We call on Malaysian Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to shed light on the unacceptable blunders that led the immigration department to deport a person who had, in fact, been placed under its protection. We also call on Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to immediately reveal where this journalist is currently being held, and under what conditions.”

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2023