KARACHI: A day after the disappearance of two Karachi-based journalists, the Sindh Commission for the Protection of Journalists and other Media Practitioners on Sunday took notice of raids on their residences and ordered the home secretary and inspector general of police to recover Anees Mansoori and Ali Sarwar within 24 hours.

According to a press release, the meeting of the commission’s executive committee, chaired by retired Justice Rasheed Razvi, was called on the request of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HECP) to discuss raids and subsequent disappearance of the two journalists.

KUJ president Faheem Siddiqi, HRCP’s Prof Tauseef Ahmed Khan and Dr Jabbar Khattack of the Council of Newspapers Editors (CPNE) attended the meeting.

Justice Razvi expressed his dismay over the incident and termed their disappearance “a case of kidnapping” as the two missing journalists were not required in any case.

The participants said that such raids and disappearance of the journalists were in violation of Articles 9 and 10 of the Constitution.

Earlier, the HRCP released a statement and stated that they were “greatly alarmed to learn that two Karachi-based journalists, Anees Mansoori and Ali Sarwar of HNow TV, have been targeted allegedly by government agencies for their reportage”.

“The Sindh government must take immediate notice of these incidents, initiate an investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable,” it demanded.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2023