(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 June 2003, a large police contingent raided the offices of the monthly “Shahrag-e-Pakistan” in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Khalid Mehmood Shah, was detained in the publication’s office for nearly two days. According to Shah, about 70 policemen surrounded the magazine’s offices on the morning of 30 […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 June 2003, a large police contingent raided the offices of the monthly “Shahrag-e-Pakistan” in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Khalid Mehmood Shah, was detained in the publication’s office for nearly two days.
According to Shah, about 70 policemen surrounded the magazine’s offices on the morning of 30 June, ostensibly to search for his brother, the spokesperson for opposition political leader Shahbaz Sharif. However, Shah added that the police officers conducting the raid admitted that the magazine’s critical stance was the real reason for the raid.
Shah said he was harassed and humiliated during the 36-hour raid. Armed police officers even accompanied him when he went to the toilet. He said the police left the offices at 11:00 p.m. (local time) on 1 July, taking with them computer disks and zip drives containing editorial material for the magazine.
The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors’ (CPNE) General Secretary Jabbar Khattak condemned the incident and said Shah was “targeted and kept hostage” because of his anti-government stand. He demanded that Punjab’s chief minister constitute a high-level inquiry committee and take punitive action against those involved in this unconstitutional act.
