According to Islamabad police, investigators are looking into a break-in that occurred at Shiffa Yousafzai’s home on Tuesday night.
Yousafzai claimed in a video statement that a group of armed men stormed her home’s wall and forced their way inside on Tuesday night.
However, the journalist claimed that she had been out with her parents when the incident took place. Yousafzai further said that the men interrogated the household workers and subjected them to torture in order to find out where she was.
Ali Haider Zaidi, a former minister and the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), tweeted about the news yesterday, stating that Yousafzai had “just called to inform that two armed men broke into her house, beat up her servants, asked about the family, searched the house, and left.”
Voicing deep concern over the event, Zaidi stated “it is a very alarming situation.”
Journalist Moeed Pirzada also posted on Twitter about the incident “a female journalist, television anchor, a prominent critic of the [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz] PML-N and [Pakistan Democratic Movement] PDM government living with her parents in the center of Islamabad not far from PM House being intimidated in this way means [it is the] ‘Age of Fascism'”.
Police in Islamabad later claimed that Yousafzai’s residence was guarded by officials and that she was safe. The police added that plans had been made to give her suitable security.
The police stated that “they were looking into every part of the incident and were looking into all possible sources.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had requested a report from Islamabad Inspector General (IGP) Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan and has taken serious notice of it.
The statement claims that the PM strongly denounced the occurrence and declared that the government’s main priority was the safety of citizens’ lives and property.
According to the statement, the PM had issued instructions for locating the offenders and punishing them severely.
The IG in Islamabad has been ordered by the PMO to produce a report on the incident.
Shehbaz earlier this month emphasised his government’s determination to maintain a climate for journalists free from intimidation and harassment and added that media freedom and democracy strengthened one another.
