Pakistan scribe escapes kidnap attempt

Islamabad: A Pakistani journalist, working for an Indian media house, said on Wednesday he had narrowly escaped being kidnapped by armed men.

Taha Siddiqui, who reports for France 24 also, said the attempted abduction took place while he was being driven by taxi to the airport in Islamabad. “I was on my way to airport at 8:20 am (on Wednesday) when 10-12 armed men stopped my cab and forcibly tried to abduct me. I managed to escape Safe and with police now,” Mr Siddiqui tweeted from a friend’s account.

Rights groups have denounced the kidnappings of several social media activists over the past year. Last year, five Pakistani bloggers went missing for several weeks before four of them were released.

Saroop Ijaz, a lawyer who works with Human Rights Watch, said Mr Siddiqui’s kidnap attempt was a worrying development.