PRESS freedom campaigners have called on Pakistani authorities to investigate the abduction of two journalists just weeks before the country’s general election.

Gul Bukhari, a known critic of the military, was snatched from her press car close to her home on Tuesday night as she was on the way to the Waqt News TV station in Lahore.

Eyewitnesses said masked men — including some in army uniforms — dragged her away after they surrounded her car. Her nephew Issam Ahmed confirmed her release a few hours later.

On the same night, Bol TV reporter Asad Kharal’s car was stopped on the way to Lahore airport where he was taken out of his car and beaten. He has also been an outspoken government critic.

The attacks came a day after Pakistan’s military spokesman criticised journalists for sharing anti-government material online and said that the authorities were monitoring their accounts.

Committee to Protect Journalists spokesman Steve Butler said: “If the media cannot do its job without facing severe intimidation, results of the election will always be open to question, undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of the new government.”

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 25.