(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested to Balochistan Provincial Governor Amir Ul Mulk Mengal about the arrest of journalist Rashid Butt. “By arresting a journalist for reporting on their failure to act, the security forces have not chosen the best means of demonstrating their competence,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation called for the journalist’s […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested to Balochistan Provincial Governor Amir Ul Mulk Mengal about the arrest of journalist Rashid Butt. “By arresting a journalist for reporting on their failure to act, the security forces have not chosen the best means of demonstrating their competence,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation called for the journalist’s release without delay and asked that the First Information Report filed against him be withdrawn.
According to information obtained by RSF, Butt, a reporter for the local daily newspapers “Bakhabar” and “Lashkar”, was arrested at his office in Quetta, capital of the province of Balochistan, in south-western Pakistan, on 1 June 2002. According to a colleague, he was taken into custody in accordance with Articles 500, 501 and 502 of the Criminal Code and Article 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (MPO). A First Information Report was filed against him. Quetta Chief of Police Abid Ali stated in the local press that the journalist was arrested for “writing an article against law-enforcing agencies,” which he criticised for their incompetence in dealing with the problems experienced by the province in maintaining public order. “He has tried to create panic by publishing a baseless article,” the chief of police added. The arrest was strongly condemned by journalists in Quetta, in particular the Balochistan Union of Journalists.
RSF also wishes to draw attention to the fact that the British journalist of Indian origin Amardeep Bassey and his two guides, who were arrested on 10 May, are still being detained in a cell in Khyber House, the seat of the federal government representative responsible for the Khyber tribal area, in Peshawar (see IFEX alerts of 16, 15 and 14 May 2002).
