Abducted Pakistani reporter freed

By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad

A Pakistani journalist has been released after two days in the "unofficial" custody of security agencies, his employers say.

Babar Hussain was seized by men in plainclothes from outside his home near the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday.

Mr Hussain works for the local English-language Dawn News TV channel.

Despite increases in press freedom, Pakistani journalists continue to face the threat of kidnap and murder from the state and armed political groups.

'Traumatised'

"It is a shameful act and we have conveyed our protest to the government," Azhar Abbas, head of Dawn News, told the BBC.

Mr Hussain's arrest seems to have been triggered by his latest story.

This was about the suicide attack on a Pakistan special forces base on 13 September near the northern town of Tarbela Ghazi.

Mr Hussain was picked up as he was leaving his home on Saturday morning.

He was kept blindfolded during his two-day ordeal during which he was interrogated.

"He has been traumatised," Mr Abbas said.

The incident has raised a storm of protests from journalists' organisations. An interior ministry spokesman told angry reporters on Wednesday that the government had launched an inquiry into the issue.

He said action would be taken against those found to have been involved.

But the government's record in investigating such incidents is far from encouraging. To date no officials have been charged in any of the kidnappings of press personnel.

This includes a BBC Urdu service reporter who was kidnapped by Pakistani security agencies in November 2006.