(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Pakistani minister of the interior, Lieutenant General Moin-ud-din Haider, RSF asked that he grant Pakistani and foreign journalists “transit permits” as soon as possible, to enable them to cross the Afghan border. “The Pakistani authorities have asked journalists to obtain visas before entering Afghanistan, but there is no […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Pakistani minister of the interior, Lieutenant General Moin-ud-din Haider, RSF asked that he grant Pakistani and foreign journalists “transit permits” as soon as possible, to enable them to cross the Afghan border. “The Pakistani authorities have asked journalists to obtain visas before entering Afghanistan, but there is no diplomatic representation of the United Front or of the Mudjahidin commanders who control Jalalabad. This situation is ridiculous. The reporters would have to go to New Delhi or Paris, where there are embassies of the Rabbani government, to obtain a visa,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. RSF asked the federal minister to intercede with North West Frontier Province (NWFP) authorities, especially the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, in order to allow media representatives to cross the border as of 17 November 2001.
“For two months now, hundreds of reporters have been covering the war in Afghanistan from Peshawar. Banning them from going to Jalalabad is in breach of the Pakistani government’s commitments to allow open coverage of the conflict,” said Ménard.
According to information obtained by RSF, on 16 November, NWFP authorities prevented a convoy of Pakistani and international reporters from leaving Peshawar for the Afghan border (Torkham). The day before, more than 100 reporters crossed the border with a convoy of thousands of armed men, organised by Commander Zaman. The security forces did not prohibit the journalists from entering Afghanistan, but the authorities announced later that reporters who try to return to Pakistan will be subject to an inspection.
According to several sources, the NWFP’s Interior and Tribal Affairs Department in Peshawar is responsible for the refusal to allow media representatives to have access to the border. Even reporters from BBC radio and CNN television, who were issued “transit permits” by the federal authorities in Islamabad, were barred from crossing the border.
