(PPF/IFEX) – The following is a 9 March 2001 PPF press release: Four newsmen held responsible for publication of blasphemous letter Peshawar: The one-man tribunal of Justice Qaim Jan Khan of the Peshawar High Court, constituted by the government, held four staff members of The Frontier Post responsible for publication of the blasphemous letter which […]
(PPF/IFEX) – The following is a 9 March 2001 PPF press release:
Four newsmen held responsible for publication of blasphemous letter
Peshawar: The one-man tribunal of Justice Qaim Jan Khan of the Peshawar High Court, constituted by the government, held four staff members of The Frontier Post responsible for publication of the blasphemous letter which appeared in the daily.
In a report issued on March 7, the judicial tribunal, which was set up by the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) government following the federal government’s instructions, said the incident took place “due to sheer negligence, rather personal negligence,” of the newspaper’s managing editor, news editor, sub-editor and composer.
The publication of the blasphemous letter in the daily on January 29 led to the sealing of the newspaper’s offices and printing press. Protesters mostly belonging to religious groups set the daily’s printing press on fire.
Seven staffers of The Frontier Post were booked under Section 295 C, also called Blasphemy Law, and other sections such as 295 A and B/505 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 16, Maintenance of Public Order. Five of them – news editor Aftab Ahmad, chief reporter Imtiaz Hussain, features writer Kazi Ghulam Sarwar, sub-editor Munawar Mohsin and Wajeehul Hasan, in charge of the computing section – were arrested by the police. Imtiaz Hussain, Kazi Ghulam Sarwar and Wajeehul Hasan have been released on bail while Aftab Ahmad and Munawar Mohsin are still in jail. The authorities failed to arrest the paper’s managing editor, Mahmood Afridi, and joint editor Jawed Nazir.
According to press reports, while exonerating Imtiaz Hussain, Kazi Ghulam Sarwar and Jawed Nazir, the tribunal has held Mahmood Afridi, Aftab Ahmad and Munawar Mohsin responsible for publication of the letter which was blasphemous and derogatory to Holy Prophet Mohammad.
In its 17-page report, the tribunal singled out sub-editor Munawar Mohsin for committing the blunder by allowing the blasphemous letter to find space on the editorial pages. It said: “It is very much astonishing that a man like Munawar Mohsin Ali who had never worked on the editorial page, admittedly the most important page, was made to sit on the said desk/page. The said Munawar Mohsin mainly worked on Afghan Page and is admittedly a drug addict for the last ten years. He was discharged from the Government Mental Hospital, Peshawar, rather he himself ran away from the ward a couple of days before the publication of the said blasphemous letter.”
In its findings, the tribunal made special mention of the crippled financial position of The Frontier Post, plus lack of professionalism and efficiency at the daily. Quoting some of the 24 witnesses who appeared before it, the tribunal pointed out that there was mismanagement at the newspaper and a single individual had to perform the duties of five to six persons. In addition, it accused the newspaper’s management of being negligent.
The tribunal’s three terms of reference were to probe the circumstances under which the blasphemous letter was published, find out the motive and suggest ways and means to prevent such sacrilegious acts by the print media in the name of press freedom in the future.
Apart from negligence on the part of some of the newspaper’s staffers, the tribunal has not mentioned any motive for publication of the blasphemous letter. It has, however, recommended improved working conditions for journalists through implementation of the Seventh Wage Board Award and formation of the Press Council as some of the necessary steps so that newspapers could be managed professionally and recurrence of such incidents could be avoided.