US 'concerned' as Pakistan activist says father detained

Washington has said it was "concerned" by reports that the father of a Pakistani activist who fled the country has himself been detained, the latest incident to fuel fears of a clampdown on dissent.

Alice Wells, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, tweeted her concern late Thursday over "reports of the continued harassment of Gulalai Ismail's family, and her father's detention today".

She said the US called on Pakistan to "uphold citizens' rights to peaceful assembly, expression, and due process".

Wells tweeted after Ismail -- a women's rights activist who fled to the US and is seeking asylum -- said her father Mohammad Ismail had been taken away by unknown men earlier Thursday outside a court in Peshawar, a western city near the border with Afghanistan.

Rabia Mehmood, a Pakistan researcher for Amnesty International, tweeted that he was in the custody of the cyber crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

On Friday, Ismail tweeted a copy of what she said was the initial investigation report showing that her father had been accused of "hate speech and false information against Government institutions of Pakistan" on social media.

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FIA officials had no immediate comment.

A senior Pakistani security source who spoke to AFP over WhatsApp said: "We (have) nothing to do with this."

Gulalai Ismail is an international award-winning activist who has championed the rights of Pakistani girls in a deeply patriarchal country.

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