(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 January 2005, at about 2:00 a.m. (local time), about 30 to 35 unidentified people riding on motorcycles attacked the head office of the Jang Group of Publications in Karachi. They opened fire, beat the building’s security staff, ransacked parts of the building and set fire to vehicles in the parking lot. […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 30 January 2005, at about 2:00 a.m. (local time), about 30 to 35 unidentified people riding on motorcycles attacked the head office of the Jang Group of Publications in Karachi. They opened fire, beat the building’s security staff, ransacked parts of the building and set fire to vehicles in the parking lot.
The Jang Group cited the publication in the group’s newspapers of an interview with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres as a possible cause of the attack. The Jang Group also said it had received a number of telephone calls with threats of serious consequences over the 28 January telecast of the weekly programme “Uljhan Suljhan”, which deals with personal and social issues that are still considered as taboo by many conservative elements in the country.
An unmarked press release dropped off at the office of Pakistan Press International, the country’s independent news agency, said, “Our protest was against Geo TV’s controversial programmes and policy, as it is promoting vulgarity and obscenity in the country. Particularly, its entertainment and psychiatric health related programme ‘Uljhan Suljhan’ provoked us.”
After overpowering the Jang Group head office security guards, the intruders ransacked the reception area and smashed the main entrance’s mechanised glass doors. The attackers then went to the mezzanine floor, where they broke Geo TV offices’ glass doors, and then entered the office of the daily “Awam”, an Urdu-language evening newspaper of the Jang Group, damaging the paper’s reporting section.
The attackers were armed with weapons and carried bags of stones, which they threw around freely. They broke open the locked doors of the cash counter and took some money. One of the cabinets was also set on fire. They then went to the Jang Group building’s parking lot, setting fire to seven “Jang” newspaper and Geo TV vehicles, as well as personal cars of the group’s staffers.
The assailants also attacked the relief camp set up by the media group to collect goods for Asian tsunami victims. They ransacked the camp and threw collected goods across the road.
A police mobile unit was present at the scene of the incident but did not take action, while more contingents of police later arrived at the scene.
Police have registered a case against the unknown assailants. The incident has been widely condemned by many civic and political organisations as a serious attack on press freedom. Government ministers have also condemned the incident and have promised to investigate the matter and bring the attackers to justice.
