(PPF/IFEX) – On 16 July 2005, police in the city of Karachi arrested two journalists from the fundamentalist Urdu-language weekly magazine “Zarb-i-Islam” and six newspaper vendors for spreading “hate literature”. Karachi police raided the offices of “Zarb-i-Islam” and arrested editor-in-chief Nasir Ali Jahangir and reporter Mohammad Saleem. Police also sealed the publication’s offices and confiscated […]
(PPF/IFEX) – On 16 July 2005, police in the city of Karachi arrested two journalists from the fundamentalist Urdu-language weekly magazine “Zarb-i-Islam” and six newspaper vendors for spreading “hate literature”.
Karachi police raided the offices of “Zarb-i-Islam” and arrested editor-in-chief Nasir Ali Jahangir and reporter Mohammad Saleem. Police also sealed the publication’s offices and confiscated copies of the magazine and “Zarb-i-Momin”, another fundamentalist weekly.
Police also raided several newspaper stalls and arrested vendors Mohammad Imran, Abdul Latif, Abdul Rehman, Mazhar Abbas, Nadeem, and Mohammad Irfan for selling the fundamentalist publications. Police sources said the action was part of a drive to remove hate literature by the end of next year, in compliance with a directive from Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf.
No case had been registered against the publications and police sources said they were awaiting further orders from high officials.
In a statement, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) condemned the raid on the offices of “Zarb-i-Islam” and the arrest of its editor-in-chief and reporter. The CPNE demanded the Sindh government immediately release the journalists, hand over the offices to its administration and allow the case to be tried in open court if there are any charges. The CPNE added that although it strongly opposed sectarian and religious extremism, it treasured the right to free speech.
