Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Afghan Journalist and Filmmaker Missing in Pakistan for a Month
Two men who make news and movies in Afghanistan went to buy a camera part in a city called Islamabad in Pakistan.
They left their homes together on July 4 and never came back.
Their families are very worried and have asked the police for help.
The police could find the car the men used, but the men were not inside it.
The men did not have the papers that let people live in Pakistan legally.
They had moved to Pakistan after a group called the Taliban took control of their home country, Afghanistan.
Around the same time, Pakistan has been telling people without papers to leave, and some Afghan people have been arrested.
A group called Amnesty International says Afghan refugees should be treated fairly and not forced out dangerously.
The families hope the men are safe and want the Pakistani government to tell them what happened.
Afghan journalist Sayed Qasim Hashemi and filmmaker Hamed Ehsas have been missing from Islamabad, Pakistan, since July 4.
The two men left their homes together on July 4 to purchase camera lens equipment and never returned.
Their vehicle was later found through the GPS system in Islamabad, but Hashemi and Ehsas were not in or around it.
Both men were living in Pakistan without legal residency after entering the country following the Taliban's seizure of power in Afghanistan in 2021.
The disappearances came amid Pakistan's intensifying crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals, including arrests and deportations of Afghan people.
- Who
- Afghan journalist Sayed Qasim Hashemi and filmmaker Hamed Ehsas, who disappeared from their homes in Islamabad.
- What
- The two men left on July 4 to buy camera lens equipment and disappeared; their empty vehicle was later found in Islamabad via GPS.
- When
- Since July 4, with the case reported as missing for over a month.
- Where
- Islamabad, Pakistan; related detentions of Afghan nationals occurred in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Why
- The disappearances occurred amid Pakistan's intensified crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals, particularly Afghan people, including arrests, detentions, and deportations; families have voiced concerns for the men's safety.
Human rights advocates
Pakistani authorities
Deportation of undocumented Afghans
Human rights advocates
Amnesty International calls the expulsions unlawful, saying Afghan refugees face arbitrary arrests, family separations, and human rights violations upon return.
Pakistani authorities
Pakistani officials say the campaign is conducted according to immigration laws, will continue without discrimination, and detained individuals will be deported after legal and administrative formalities.
Arrest policy for Afghan nationals
Human rights advocates
Amnesty argues that people with international protection needs must be safeguarded under international human rights law and that millions of Afghan refugees are being expelled.
Pakistani authorities
Pakistan's Ministry of Interior ordered the immediate arrest of Afghan nationals found living in the country without a valid visa from July 10, after hundreds of thousands of residence permits were rescinded.
- Missing persons
- Sayed Qasim Hashemi (journalist) and Hamed Ehsas (filmmaker)
- Date last seen
- July 4
- Location
- Islamabad, Pakistan
- Residency status
- Living in Pakistan without legal residency; entered after Taliban seized power in 2021
- Vehicle found
- Located via GPS in Islamabad; occupants not present
- Related crackdown
- 40 undocumented Afghan nationals detained in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, earlier in July
- Deportation order
- Ministry of Interior ordered arrest of Afghan nationals without a valid visa from July 10
- Amnesty International
- Urged international community on June 20 to stop unlawful expulsion of Afghan refugees