Police say missing Baloch journalist, activist returned home

Islamabad police say Abid Mir had lost contact with family which led to rumours

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad police said late on Thursday that missing Baloch journalist and activist Abid Mir, who went missing a day earlier in the day in the federal capital, returned home safely.

The capital police said that “due to the loss of contact with the family, wrong impression had been created that Abid Mir had gone missing.

The capital police thanked the citizens and journalists who had contacted the police in this regard.

Abid Mir, a Baloch journalist, went missing in the federal capital late on Wednesday.

According to his family, Mir disappeared after going to an ATM on Wednesday evening. Mir, who is known for his social media activism and his work on human rights in Balochistan, was last seen at the Aurat March, which took place on Wednesday.

Mir's brother Khalid Mir earlier released a video on Twitter in which he stated that the family was in contact with the police to register a missing-persons FIR. He further stated that Mir had not been involved in any controversial issues lately, and he did not have any specific threat from anybody.

The disappearance of the Baloch activist had raised grave concerns on social media. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had also expressed concern and urged the Islamabad police to investigate the matter immediately.

Many journalists and social media activists had voiced their concern over Mir’s missing.

Mir worked as a regional editor for Lok Sujag – a multimedia investigative journalism platform that focuses on issues and communities marginalised in the mainstream media and policy discourse.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2023.