Gulalai Ismail slams Pak media over silence on abduction of her father

Pakistani women's rights activist Gulalai Ismail on Friday condemned the "criminal silence" of mainstream Pakistani media on the abduction of her father.

"Around 19 hours ago my father was abducted from the premises of Peshawar High court, but there's a pin drop silence on mainstream Pakistani media. I've run out of words to condemn the criminal silence of media; it has become an ally of military in imposing unannounced martial law," she said in a tweet.

Gulalai Ismail, who is currently in the US on Thursday said that her father was picked up by "men wearing militia dress" in Peshawar.

"My father has been picked up by men wearing Militia dress from outside of Peshawar High Court an hour ago," Ismail had tweeted.

Expressing concern over the 'detention' of Pakistani women's rights activist Gulalai Ismail's father in Pakistan and continued harassment faced by her family, US on Friday urged Islamabad to uphold the rights of citizens.

"We are concerned by reports of the continued harassment of Gulalai Ismail's family, and her father's detention today. We encourage Pakistan to uphold citizens' rights to peaceful assembly, expression, and due process," Acting Assistant Secretary Alice Wells said, according to a tweet by Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

Retweeting it, Ismail wrote, "U.S State department is concerned about the detention of my father. By persecuting citizens for exercising their human rights Pakistan is damaging its own reputation."

Ismail termed the abduction of her father in Peshawar an attempt to terrorize the women of Pakistan and others who dare to use their "conditional rights".

"Abduction of my father is an attempt to terrorize women of Pakistan who've got fathers' backs; to stifle dissent, to terrorize people who dare use their conditional rights," the women's rights activist said in another tweet.

Ismail managed to escape Pakistan to seek political asylum in the United States in September after being accused of treason. She reached the US months after she was arrested and released for holding a protest demonstration outside the National Press Club in Islamabad.

( With inputs from ANI )