Journalist Waheed Murad has been “forcibly disappeared” from his house in Islamabad by masked individuals, according to a petition filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) by his family on Wednesday.
Submitted by Murad’s mother-in-law, Abida Nawaz, through lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha, the petition claims the journalist was abducted from his home around 2:05 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The petition alleges the abductors belonged to “intelligence agencies,” adding they were accompanied by persons in black uniforms and two police double cabin vehicles.
Nawaz claims to be an eyewitness, alleging the abductors had manhandled her and confiscated her phone.
The petition has named the state, the defense ministry, the Islamabad police chief and the Karachi Company police’s station house officer as respondents in the case. It has urged the IHC to direct the respondents to trace and produce Murad before the court and identify and investigate the people responsible.
Murad, a journalist with Urdu News, had previously worked at NewsOne and daily Ausaf. His abduction follows the arrest in Karachi of journalist Farhan Mallick in two separate cases, one of which accuses him of posting “anti-state” content on his web platform, Raftar.
The journalist’s wife, who is not currently in Pakistan, has claimed the masked men had alleged he was an Afghan and had abducted him despite him showing them his Pakistani identification card.
In a statement, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has expressed alarm over Murad’s abduction. “We demand that he be traced and recovered safely and promptly and his abductors brought to book,” it said.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists also condemned the abduction and called for the immediate and unconditional release of Murad. Expressing deep concern over the rising incidents of enforced disappearances targeting journalists, it also urged authorities to review the alleged misuse of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2025.