Pakistani journalist not a cop, wife says over deportation

 

Syed Fawad Ali Shah, who was in exile in Malaysia for more than 10 years, has been missing since Aug 23, 2022.

PETALING JAYA: The wife of Pakistani journalist Syed Fawad Ali Shah, who was deported in August, has denied that her husband is a former police officer.

Syeda said her husband was never a policeman.

“He is a journalist. You can see many of his articles on the internet,” she told FMT.

Syeda was responding to the claim made by home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail when confirming that Malaysia had obliged Pakistan’s request to have Fawad deported “sometime in the third week of August”.

Fawad, the minister claimed, was a former policeman with disciplinary issues back home.

Syeda questioned how the Malaysian authorities could ignore the fact that Fawad was in exile in Kuala Lumpur with a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card when sending him back to Pakistan where he may face persecution.

She said the deportation has put Fawad’s life in danger.

“When we asked the Pakistan High Commission here, they said they were not involved. After looking for him in Pakistan and in Malaysia, I can’t find him. What do I do now?”

Syeda had come to Kuala Lumpur to look for Fawad after attempts to contact him failed. A housemate lodged a missing person’s report in August.

Fawad, who was in exile in Malaysia for more than 10 years, has been missing since Aug 23 last year.

The 41-year-old had sought asylum in Malaysia, claiming he was being persecuted in Pakistan over articles published in several English dailies there related to alleged government corruption. - FMT