Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan, who was freed last week after being detained while covering Islamabad protest deaths, has claimed that the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital staff concealed casualties information.

“There is no doubt that record was being hidden. We were told that PIMs had taken control of all files on injured in wardroom who had bullet wounds on orders of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi,” he said while appearing on Spotlight with Munizae Jahangir which was aired on Aaj News on Monday.

Jan was released from Adiala Jail on November 30 after an Islamabad anti-terrorism court granted him bail in a terrorism and narcotics case.

He was booked in the case on November 28 after being detained in Islamabad, with his son alleging “unknown individuals” had abducted the journalist.

According to the government, their record was with the government and there was a death register in emergency. “We saw it. We noted something but it was hidden,” he said.

“It was 11:30pm on November 27 and we were in the hospital to investigate casualties. When we got out of the hospital, some people who had covered their faces with masks placed a chador on my head and after six to seven minutes took me to a place and kept me there,” Jan said and added that after more than one hour the suspected policemen brought him to the same place at PIMS where he was for doctor inspection, which is done for suspect after arrest.

“In front of those policemen, the doctor did not even bother to see who those unidentified men were. He asked questions to me like he was a policeman, not a doctor.”

Show host Munizae also shared her experience, saying that the Poly Clinic doctor who signed the register containing details about bodies stated that “he was not allowed to speak to the press.” She also contacted the hospital spokesperson, who till the news programme recording did not pick up the phone.

In response to a question, Jan clarified that he visited the hospital on November 27 and he had only heard the sound of gunshots. He claimed that no one had access to the D-Chowk.

“I only ask whenever a tragedy occurs, lists of deceased and arrested people are issued. People don’t know where their loved ones are. The documents I received show there are seven to eight deaths and people also received gunshot wounds,” he said and reiterated that files were hidden.

Maritime Affairs Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, who was also on the show, said that he was unaware of any details of the incident as he was not there. The minister shared that some policemen from his area, Chiniot, were injured in clashes with PTI protesters.

PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen, who joined the show via video link, said that the party was collecting all data and had assigned the responsibility to Latif Khosa for registering the case. “He is working and we have readied a petition seeking impartial judicial commission inquiry into this.”

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While citing a few reporters, he said that the speedy car that killed three Rangers personnel was driven by a mentally ill patient.

Shaheen claimed that PTI protesters were armless. But the host told him that one of the policemen she met had a fractured nose that could be because of stone or slingshots, which the protesters carried, according to footage and pictures.

Sheikh stated that the parties can move courts of have independent investigation.