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The New York Times’ Pakistan correspondent on Tuesday accused the Rangers of raiding his house illegally, triggering a storm on the social media with the Interior Minister ordering a probe into the incident.
Salman Masood tweeted that paramilitary ‘Rangers have shown up at my house, saying they want to search the premises but have no documents or warrants’.
'Spoke with a senior Islamabad police official. He said a terrorist search operation underway,' he said in another tweet as he uploaded pictures of the officials searching his house in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The tweet created a storm on the social media with civil society and media professionals condemning the search of a journalist’s residence.
Masood said he talked to senior police officials who said a routine search operation was going against the terrorists.
As the condemnation poured in and journalists boycotted proceedings of the parliament, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan took notice of the incident.
"Such activities and raids are unacceptable," his office said in a brief statement.
The minister asked secretary of interior ministry to ‘properly investigate why and on whose behalf the raid was carried’.
Meanwhile, police official Mustafa Tanvir said police searched rented houses in some areas and it was not against any individual.
Image: Pak forces searching Salman Masood's house in Islamabad on Tuesday. Photograph: @salmanmasood/Twitter