Pak journalist says ISI could be behind attack on him in Islamabad

Pakistani journalist Asad Ali Toor has said members of the country's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), could be behind the brutal attack on him.

Toor, who is known for criticising the country's establishment, was attacked late on Tuesday at his apartment in Islamabad. The attackers broke into his house and attacked him.

"The attackers who came into my apartment themselves introduced that they are ISI guys. Before the attack, I never saw them. I don't know for sure if they really are ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) but I will rely on their statement. They are saying they are ISI guys. Now its police's job to find out that they are," the Pakistani journalist told German publication, Deutsche Welle, in an interview.

On the increasing number of attacks on journalists, Toor said, "Under this regime, we have seen a spike in the attacks on the journalists. The reason for this is because the state of Pakistan has done so many illegal things. Now they get frustrated because those illegal acts didn't deliver."

"...Now when journalists highlight those illegal steps, they get frustrated and lose temper and they target journalists to give a chilling effect to media that whosoever will report against their interest, they will not spare them," he added.

Condemning "yet another attack" on freedom of expression, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday demanded the authorities to apprehend and charge the assailants immediately.

"HRCP strongly condemns the brutal assault on journalist@AsadAToor by three unknown men who barged into his residence. We see it as yet another attack on freedom of expression and a free press. HRCP demands that the authorities should apprehend and charge the assailants immediately," HRCP tweeted.

Toor's fellow journalists across the country also condemned the attack. According to the Freedom Network's annual state of the Press Freedom 2021 report, Pakistan has emerged as the riskiest place to practice journalism.

In December last year, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in a 'White Paper on Global Journalism' listed five countries, including Pakistan as the 'Most Dangerous Countries for Practice of Journalism in the World'. As many as 138 journalists have been killed in Pakistan since 1990.

( With inputs from ANI )

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