(RSF/IFEX) – On 10 January 2003, RSF condemned the latest attack on cable television installations in the Peshawar region, the second such attack in less than one week. The organisation called on Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad to restore the rule of law in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and punish those responsible […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 10 January 2003, RSF condemned the latest attack on cable television installations in the Peshawar region, the second such attack in less than one week. The organisation called on Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad to restore the rule of law in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and punish those responsible for the attacks.
RSF suspects that local officials will not take action against the saboteurs since some members of the conservative Islamic coalition government in the NWFP, which borders Afghanistan, have denounced cable television as a “bad influence.”
On 10 January, tribal leader Tariq Mateen and Islamist militants destroyed the cable television network in part of Peshawar, ripping out some 15 to 20,000 metres of cable. They declared that cable television was henceforth banned, and called on the authorities to “remove this curse” from the region, so Pakistanis could live according to the rules of Islam.
Witnesses reported that some residents fought the attackers during the incident, which followed the Islamic militants’ imposition of a 10 January deadline for cable operators to cease their broadcasts.
The attacks occurred the day after cable operators had resumed services after a two-day suspension, in protest against the destruction of the OK Cable Network’s equipment in Peshawar on the night of 7 January by about 30 armed men. The attack took place only a few hundred metres from the Guldahar police station, but none of the perpetrators were arrested. The cable operators had agreed to resume services to their tens of thousands of customers after talks with central government officials.
