Senior journalist and supporter of Imran Khan, Sami Abrahim goes missing from Islamabad

A prominent Pakistani television journalist known for his public support of former prime minister Imran Khan has gone missing, the police, his family and his employer said.

Sami Abrahim's disappearance was first announced in a police tweet late on Wednesday, hours after he went missing. His family and the Karachi-based independent BOL television, where Abrahim works, claimed on Thursday that he had been abducted.

Abrahim has long publicly opposed the government of Imran Khan's successor, Premier Shahbaz Sharif.

In a news announcement, BOL TV said Abrahim was taken by unidentified men on Wednesday. Abrahim's brother, Ali Raza, filed a police complaint claiming that eight people in four vehicles intercepted his brother's car on his way back home from work in the capital, Islamabad, and took him away. His driver was unharmed.

The police tweet promised they would do their best to find the well-known TV reporter.

Abrahim’s disappearance comes two weeks after another pro-Imran Khan TV journalist, Imran Riaz, went missing. Pakistani police have denied detaining him.

Reporters Without Borders — the international media watchdog also known by its French acronym RSF — expressed concern on Tuesday for Riaz's safety.

In a statement, it urged Pakistan’s government "to ensure respect for the rule of law by immediately revealing where and in what conditions he is being held.”

Pakistan's media community and journalists have also demanded accountability for those behind the October killing in Kenya of Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani TV anchor.

The 50-year-old journalist was living in Kenya to avoid arrest at home on charges of maligning the powerful military. According to Kenyan police, officers opened fire at a car carrying Sharif when it drove through a checkpoint outside Nairobi instead of stopping.

Later, Nairobi police expressed regret over the shooting, saying it was a case of "mistaken identity” during a search for a similar car involved in a child abduction case.

Associated Press