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Pakistan journalist Imran Riaz Khan was recovered on Monday and reached his home safely, according to District Police Officer Sialkot Hassan Iqbal. Khan was missing for over four months, Geo News reported.
Geo News is a Pakistani news channel. The journalist was detained two days after the May 9 protests in Pakistan following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khans arrest. The Sialkot police in a post on X formerly Twitter, wrote: Journalist/anchor Mr Imran Riaz Khan has been safely recovered. He is now with his family." Riaz's lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq wrote "By God's special blessing, grace and mercy, I have brought back my prince." He said: "It took a lot of time due to the pile of difficulties, the last limit of understanding of the matter, a weak judiciary and the current ineffective public constitution and legal helplessness." The lawyer further wrote: "Despite the unspeakable circumstances, Allah Almighty showed us this best day. Only limitless gratitude right now, as per Geo News. After his detention on May 9 Imran Riaz, was taken from the Lahore Cantt Police Station. The Lahore High Court (LHC) was informed on May 15 that the anchorperson was released from jail after taking an undertaking in writing. A first information report (FIR) of Imrans alleged abduction was registered with Sialkot Civil Lines police on May 16 on the complaint of the anchorpersons father, Muhammad Riaz. The FIR was registered against unidentified persons and police officials for allegedly kidnapping Imran, invoking Section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Imran Riaz's X profile had been inactive since May 11. His last tweet was regarding former PM Imran Khan after he was arrested on May 9. Imran Riaz was detained under the charges of inciting people to violence through his reporting. In May this year the Lahore High Court had directed the ministries of interior and defence to discharge their constitutional duties to effect the recovery of the anchorperson after the Police revealed that there was no trace of the journalist at any police department across the country, Dawn News reported. The LHC was subsequently informed that both the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence had said the anchorperson was not in their custody. On May 26, the high court had directed all the agencies to work together to find the anchorperson and produce him in the court. Reporters Without Borders, known globally by its French acronym RSF, claimed in late May that it had received information from "confidential diplomatic sources" that Riaz was tortured and "may even have died in detention." On September 20, the LHC had given the Punjab police chief a last opportunity to recover Riaz by September 26, adjourning the proceedings in a petition demanding his recovery, Dawn News reported. (ANI)
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