Family and friends asking me to lie low; fear my life: WION journalist who was assaulted by armed men

Pakistani journalist and WION bureau chief Taha Siddiqui early Friday wrote on Twitter that his family and close friends were urging him to stay silent for a while, as they feared his life. "Been advised to go silent by near & dear ones. They fear for my life. Others advised restraint sayin theres no guarantee I m alive tom. But Pakistan is my country. I want to tell those who want to silence me: I m not ur enemy. I want best for Pak. Lets work together to ensure tht (sic)," he wrote on Twitter.

Been advised to go silent by near & dear ones. They fear for my life. Others advised restraint sayin theres no guarantee I m alive tom. But Pakistan is my country. I want to tell those who want to silence me: I m not ur enemy. I want best for Pak. Lets work together to ensure tht

— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) January 12, 2018

Earlier, Siddiqui, who was assaulted and threatened with death by armed men who tried to abduct him, told a press conference that he will not be silenced.

The attack on Siddiqui came just months after investigative journalist Ahmed Noorani was badly thrashed in a car in Islamabad by unidentified armed men.

Reacting to the incident, 'World Is One News's Editor- in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhury said, "Despite the shocking attack on WION's Pakistan Bureau Chief, Taha Siddiqui, WION remains committed to pursuing fearless journalism from the soil of Pakistan. We will continue to report, expose and comment on events in that country."

Recently, Siddiqui criticised the Pakistani media's treatment of Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav's mother and wife who were visiting him.

"Somedays we do a story that disgusts us. Today was one such day. But it was not because of what I covered. Rather it was because of how my fellow journalists behaved with the mother and wife of #KulbushanJadhav when they left FO (Foreign Office) building. They shouted taunts. It was very shameful," Siddiqui tweeted on December 25 after Jadhav met his family in Islamabad.

"Many of these journalists are familiar faces at Foreign Office briefings and have a number of years of experience before being allotted such an important news beat to cover.

And yet on Monday, when they were covering the meet-up, they seemed to have lost all sense of ethics when it comes to reporting," Siddiqui had written in an article in 'World Is One News'.

When Jadhav's family visited Pakistan to meet him, Siddiqui was the only media professional to criticise the ill behaviour given to his family and got trolled on social media by fellow Pakistani journalists, WION said in the statement.

In May last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had issued a notice to Siddiqui, known for posting comments on social media against the military, and asked him to appear before its counterterrorism wing.

The Pakistani military has so far denied playing a role in any enforced disappearances, as has the civilian government. Militants have also targeted journalists in the past.

In November 2017, World Press Freedom Index placed Pakistan among the most dangerous countries for journalists.

Pakistan was ranked 139th out of 180 countries.