(PPF/IFEX) – A three member team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided the regional offices of the Jang group, Pakistan’s largest newspaper group, in Rawalpindi on 14 December 1998. The group publishes a number of newspapers, including the daily “Jang” in Urdu and “The News” in English. According to press reports, a FIA team, […]
(PPF/IFEX) – A three member team from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
raided the regional offices of the Jang group, Pakistan’s largest newspaper
group, in Rawalpindi on 14 December 1998. The group publishes a number of
newspapers, including the daily “Jang” in Urdu and “The News” in English.
According to press reports, a FIA team, supervised by Major Arif, the
organisation’s Additional Director General, remained in the offices for
three hours and searched the premises. They demanded to check the newsprint
quotas and store records. However, the newspapers’ staff and office bearers
of the workers union resisted this attempt and forced the FIA officials to
withdraw from the premises. FIA officials harassed journalists and other
staff present at the office.
A spokesman for the Jang group of newspapers said the raid is part of the
“government’s vindictive policy,” which it has been leading against the
newspaper group in the past six months.
The spokesman claimed senior officials of the government put pressure on
the Jang group so as not to carry a news story concerning the non-payment of
a eleven million pounds (approx. US$18.5 million) loan by the family of
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which was published by the British newspaper
“The Observer”. The story was published yesterday in a number of newspapers,
including those belonging to the Jang group. The spokesman claimed officials
tried to block the publication of the story and threatened that things would
get “real tough” if the story was published.
