KARACHI: A journalist working for a private television channel was taken away by unidentified men from near his residence in Karachi on Monday, according to his family and the police.

Nafees Naeem, who is associated with Aaj TV, was picked up by men in plainclothes near his residence in Nazimabad area of Karachi, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police West-Zone Nasir Aftab told.

Naeem works as an assignment editor for the TV channel.

Aftab said police immediately contacted Naeem’s family after learning about the incident, adding that a station house officer (SHO) from the Nazimabad Police Station also visited the journalist’s house.

The DIG said the police had obtained CCTV footage of the incident, which showed plainclothed men aboard a Vigo [a four-wheel-drive truck] approaching the journalist and picking him up.

The police officer said he spoke to the wife of the journalist who said her husband had left home at around 3:50pm to get some groceries and hadn’t returned since then. The DIG said the police had asked the family to lodge a first information report (FIR) if they wanted to.

DIG Aftab confirmed that the journalist was not detained at any police station in his jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the TV channel’s administration said in a statement that Naeem was taken away by men in plainclothes outside his home in Nazimabad. Condemning the “abduction”, it said a legal course of action should be adopted if Naeem was wanted in any case, urging the prime minister and the Sindh chief minister to take notice of the incident and ensure the journalist’s recovery.

“No institution can be given the right to take away any citizen without a charge, FIR or a complaint,” the statement said, adding that such an incident was “a matter of shame for the government”.

Naeem has been associated with Aaj TV for the last 10 years, the channel’s administration said.