(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the continued ban on journalists entering the South Waziristan Tribal Area along the Afghan border, despite recent assurances by the Pakistani interior minister that journalists would be allowed into the area. “Despite the government’s promises, the Pakistani armed forces maintain a de facto news blackout in South Waziristan,” the organisation […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the continued ban on journalists entering the South Waziristan Tribal Area along the Afghan border, despite recent assurances by the Pakistani interior minister that journalists would be allowed into the area.
“Despite the government’s promises, the Pakistani armed forces maintain a de facto news blackout in South Waziristan,” the organisation said.
On 21 September 2004, a group of journalists consisting of Tribal Union of Journalists President Sailab Mehsud, Alamgir, Anwar Masood and Irfan Siddiqui of ARY TV, and Sheikh Rehmatullah, Irfan Khan and Shaukat Khattak of Geo TV was denied entry to the Tribal Areas at the Jandola checkpoint. After being turned back, they staged a sit-in at the checkpoint for several hours.
At a 16 September news conference, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had promised that the government would allow Pakistani and foreign journalists to enter South Waziristan’s Wana region.
Since March, it has been virtually impossible for the news media to cover Pakistan’s military operations against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in South Waziristan.
