Afridi strongly denies ANF allegations | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Afridi strongly denies ANF allegations

LAHORE: “Anyone who raises the issue of freedom of the press could face a fate similar to mine,” said Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Frontier Post’ newspaper, Rehmat Shah Afridi, while talking to The News in police custody.

Rehmat Shah, currently facing charges of drug trafficking is currently under trial at the sessions court, which ordered the removal of his handcuffs on Saturday and fixed May 29 as the next date for further hearing of his case.

Afridi condemned a statement by Director General Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) Brigadier Riaz whereby he alleged that in 1965 Rehmat Shah Afridi used to ride a scooter and now was a billionaire. He said that in 1965 he was just 10 years old and so was unable to ride a scooter. Afridi also said he belonged to a family that had a business in Afghanistan before Pakistan was created and they ran a spare-parts business and owned both commercial and agricultural land. He said that in 1965, his father was a large transporter for the Khyber Agency where the price for a route permit was nearly Rs. 1 lakh.

Afridi said the ANF had officially reported his arrest on April 2 and presented him in court on the 3rd, while in reality they had arrested him a day prior to the report, thus keeping him illegally for additional 24 hours. Commenting on the torture he was subjected to, he said it continued for 17 days in the ANF’s Ahmed Block torture cell. He said that if he were given that cell for three days to interrogate the ANF chief, he would easily get confessions out of him.

Afridi said he was willing to accept the charges if the ANF were willing to swear by the Quran that charas was in fact found in his car, while he wondered what business a respectable man would have roaming the streets of Lahore at three in the night with 20 kg of charas in his 50 lakh car. He said his only crime was that he had published the names of ANF officials involved in drug trafficking. Speaking on the allegations made against him by Brigadier Riaz in his statement to the press, he said the brigadier was holding a prestigious post, which he shouldn’t abuse by making such statements, especially since the case was subjudice. Referring to the administration the incarcerated editor asked that if “these people” considered journalist’s blackmailers, why were they always holding press conferences and issuing statements’? He said any government that involved the army in politics was actually defaming the army. Afridi maintained the “superior authorities” knew what he had done for his country and that a proper inquiry should be carried out by the judiciary, as it was a crime to accuse an innocent man of a crime such as narcotics where the minimum penalty was 25 years. He also asked journalists, to confirm allegations against him or his family before printing them – as an Urdu newspaper misinformed the public that his son had been arrested. However, he said he was grateful to all journalists for speaking out in his support.

Source: The News,

Date:5/24/1999