Matiullah Jan

Matiullah Jan^[a] is a senior Pakistani journalist and internet personality.^[2][3][4] He is known for his criticism of the military of Pakistan.^[5]

Matiullah Jan مطیع اللہ جان
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupation(s)	Journalist and Supreme Court reporter, Famous YouTuber
Notable work	Interviewed EX-DGFIA[1]
Website	YouTube channel

Background

Jan has worked for several media outlets in Pakistan. He is known for his criticism of the Pakistani government.^[6]

Due to his criticism on establishment he has been allegedly threatened many times.^[5] Matiullah Jan was sacked from Waqt News, where he was working as an anchor.^[7] This was allegedly due to pressure from security agencies. He currently runs his own YouTube channel.^[8]

Controversy

Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of a tweet by Jan that was critical of the judiciary, and initiated contempt proceedings against him.^[9][10]

First Abduction and release

In July 2020, Jan was kidnapped from outside a public school. This school is located in Sector G-6, of Islamabad. He had gone to drop off his teacher wife there. CCTV footage showed that he was forcibly removed from his car and beaten by persons in uniform as well as plainclothes. His captors released him 12 hours later. Jan has implicated the security establishment for his kidnapping.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Second Abduction and release

On the evening of 27 November 2024, Matiullah Jan, who had been investigating casualties from the 2024 Final Call protest of PTI, and his colleague Saqib Bashir were abducted by men in black uniforms from the parking lot of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. They were blindfolded and forced into a vehicle. Bashir recounted, "We were collecting data on the casualties."^[17]

Hours before his abduction, Jan had appeared on a TV program where he read from what he claimed were hospital records contradicting the government's denial that live ammunition was used by security forces or that any protesters were killed during the dispersal. Bashir was released on a street three hours later, while Jan was subsequently charged with terrorism and possession of narcotics. A First Information Report (FIR) alleged that he was found with 246 grams of methamphetamine at a vehicle checkpoint in Islamabad's E-9 area. The case was registered at 3:20 a.m., nearly an hour after the reported incident. As of November 28, his whereabouts remain unknown, according to another colleague Asad Ali Toor.^[17][18]

Publications

He has authored or co-authored the following publications:

• Guaranteeing Copyright: Media Manager's Guide to Pakistani Broadcast Law, Internews, 2004. Co-authored with Muhammad Aftab Alam.
• Media in Pakistan, Growing Space, Shrinking Freedoms: Annual Report on State of Media Freedoms in Pakistan, Internews, 2005. Co-authored with Adnan Rehmat.
• Watching the Watchdog, How Pakistan is Front Paged and Headlined? : a Report on Trends in Pakistani Media, Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, 2006. Co-authored with Zafarullah Khan.

Notes

1. Urdu: مطیع اللہ جان