(PPF/IFEX) – On 10 July 2004, a senior government bureaucrat beat a woman journalist and locked her in a room for about an hour. According to press reports, Saima Zahoor, a reporter with the Urdu-language daily “Express”, had gone to meet with Asif Rahim, deputy secretary of the Environment Ministry, to seek his comments on […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 10 July 2004, a senior government bureaucrat beat a woman journalist and locked her in a room for about an hour.
According to press reports, Saima Zahoor, a reporter with the Urdu-language daily “Express”, had gone to meet with Asif Rahim, deputy secretary of the Environment Ministry, to seek his comments on the issue of pollution in Rawal Lake.
The official became angered by Zahoor’s questions, called in a security guard and ordered him to throw her out of the office. When the journalist protested against Rahim’s behaviour, he slapped her, dragged her and locked her in a room.
Zahoor had her mobile phone and called her colleagues and the police, who rushed to the scene. On seeing the police, the deputy secretary’s staff quickly released the journalist from the office.
Local journalists protested the manhandling of Zahoor and walked out of the parliamentary press gallery during the 12 July Senate session, demanding Rahim’s immediate suspension and the registration of a criminal complaint against him. The journalists refused to return to the press gallery until the government agreed to their demands.
The journalists returned to the press gallery after Federal Communications Minister Babar Khan Ghouri gave assurances that a case would be registered against the official and an inquiry launched into the incident.
