Press Statement
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, 28 March 2025: Pak-Afghan Journalists Solidarity Network (PAJSN) expressed Friday concerns over arrest and harassment of journalists from Afghanistan and called on PM Shehbaz Sharif government to stop authorities from detaining and harassing the journalists and facilitate them until their resettlement cases were processed in different western embassies in Islamabad.
“The detention of senior Afghan journalist Mehmood Kochai on Thursday along with his son was a matter of great concerns for the Network and Afghan journalist community in Pakistan,” PAJSN convenor Iqbal Khattak said in a press statement on Friday.
PAJSN has been established in December 2023 to facilitate collaboration between the journalists’ communities of Pakistan and Afghanistan to help address various challenges facing the exiled Afghan journalists during their transition period in Pakistan. The PASN is non-political in nature and solely aimed at addressing humanitarian and professional challenges faced by the exiled Afghan journalists in Pakistan.
The statement said Mehmood Kochai already applied online for renewal of his visa and he shared a document provided by foreign embassy confirming the journalist’s case for resettlement. “The detention brought agony for the journalist and his family,” the statement read.
The journalist was freed hours later after PAJSN members approached senior government officials to seek urgent release of the Afghan journalist from the detention centre in Islamabad.
Iqbal Khattak, according to the statement, said Pakistan was under international obligation to support these Afghan journalists on humanitarian ground. “I hope PM Shehbaz Sharif government will take good care of these journalists and shelve plans to drive these journalists from Islamabad and its surroundings out.
“We urge the federal government to stop deporting these Afghan journalists after 31 March deadline given to documented and undocumented Afghan nationals in the federal capital city and its surroundings.”
Around 200 Afghan journalists, including women journalists and their families, are waiting for their resettlement cases pending with different western and non-western embassies in Islamabad. Many other Afghan journalists and their families have been resettled with most supported by Reporters Without Borders in Paris, France.
The statement reminded the federal government that deporting Afghan journalists back to Afghanistan under the Taliban regime would endanger their lives and families. “These Afghan journalists want to stay legally and ready to pay for visas but the problem is Pakistan is issuing them visa for just a month period. The duration may be increased for the visa giving these traumatised Afghan journalists a rest from mental and physical stress,” the statement read. Ends.
