Pakistan ? An American freelance journalist and scholar based in Pakistan was ordered to leave the country after writing an article that might have been deemed unflattering to the Pakistani government, according to friends, colleagues and a U.S.-based media rights group.

Nicholas Schmidle, a frequent contributor to Slate magazine and a fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs in Washington, was served with a deportation notice at his Islamabad home Tuesday night and left Pakistan on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.

Under an arrangement hammered out with Pakistani officials, his departure would not be recorded as a deportation if he agreed to leave the country, according to a colleague familiar with the deal.

An Interior Ministry spokesman, retired Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, denied that Schmidle had been expelled. “He’s gone of his own accord – there hasn’t been a deportation order,” Cheema said.

Pakistani journalists are often threatened and intimidated by government officials.