KAJANG – Syed Fawad Ali Shah, a Pakistani journalist living in exile in Malaysia who went missing in August, has been deported to his country, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed today.
He said this is after the Pakistani government made an official request through the diplomatic channel for Malaysia to help identify Fawad’s whereabouts and extradite him.
“The request was made by the Pakistani High Commission to the government of the day at that time, not at present. This unity government is only a month old. This (request) was made much earlier in August, and that’s the fact.
“Acting on this, the then government had traced his location, and on the third week of August, he was deported to Islamabad,” he told a press conference after attending a briefing at the Prison Department headquarters, here, today.
“That is the status now. I can confirm that based on official records, the action taken is in line with the request filed by the Pakistani government.”
Saifuddin’s statement today puts an end to speculation on Fawad’s whereabouts, with his wife, Syeda, previously claiming to have been offered conflicting information on her husband.
She had told the press last week that the Immigration Department had informed her that Fawad has been deported back to his home country, although the Pakistani High Commission later told her that this is untrue, as her husband is not listed as a wanted man.
Syeda has since appealed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the public to help identify Fawad’s location and reconnect them.
Fawad was reported to have fled Pakistan and sought asylum in Malaysia as a UNHCR cardholder since 2011, before going missing on August 23 this year.
He was said to have escaped his home country for fear of persecution after having actively reported on corruption involving state officials and missing persons cases.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin said while media articles identify Fawad as a journalist, the government officially recognises him as a former Pakistani police officer with disciplinary cases.
He said this is based on a notice issued to the Malaysian government identifying Fawad as such.
“There are two versions here. The media reports him as a journalist, but the official version from Pakistan is that he is a former cop with various cases. I quote this from a Pakistani government source.
“But although he is a former police officer, he also has a good ability to write. As such, he wrote extensively criticising the government. This was why he is pictured as a journalist,” he said.
Previously, Syeda had said that she suffered a miscarriage of what would have been her first child with Fawad, upon discovering her husband’s disappearance.
The pair got married in an online ceremony in January 2021, before she travelled to meet her husband in Langkawi in February this year, where they spent a month together. It was during this time she conceived her baby.
The couple has been in daily contact, which was how Syeda knew something was amiss when she lost all communication with Fawad on August 23. – The Vibes, January 3, 2023
