KARACHI: Abdullah Zafar, a journalist associated with daily The Nation, who was taken away by over a dozen people with some in police uniform from his house in the Lawyers` Society on Sunday night, was released on Monday near the airport after being subjected to `torture`.

Mr Zafar told Dawn that he was taken away in an armoured personnel carrier of the police, accompanied by another APC and three private vehicles, from his home at around 4am. He said he was handcuffed and beaten up for five to seven minutes, apparently with a leather belt.

Later, the abductors asked him about his biodata and about his activities on social media.

The reporter said that he was taken in a private car and dropped near the airport on Sharea Faisal from where he hired a rickshaw and reached home.-Staf f Reporter