Government asked to ensure safety of journalists
PARIS- International journalists’ rights organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) said this afternoon in Paris that it had called upon Pakistani authorities to “ensure the safety” of journalist Syed Anwar, of the English-language daily The Frontier Post who has been receiving threats by henchmen of an Afghan military commander.
The henchmen, says RSF, also threatened to ban all Pakistani journalists from Afghanistan’s three eastern provinces.
According to RSF, “two secret service officials from the eastern Afghan border province of Nangarhar threatened Mr Anwar with “terrible personal consequences” after he reported in the Peshawar daily on Feb 15 and 16 that Hazrat Ali, the province’s military chief, had been arrested by the US forces for drug- smuggling, kidnapping and supporting members of Al Qaeda in their escape from the Tora Bora mountains.
RSF says that it contacted Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali urging him to “guarantee the safety of all journalists covering Afghan affairs, especially those on The Frontier Post, where Mr Anwar, an Afghan, heads the Afghan affairs desk.”
According to RSF Asia-Pacific spokesman Vincent Brossel, the two secret service men, one of them called Abdul Rehmen, went to the newspaper’s offices in Peshawar to deliver their threat. They also warned that they could ban all Pakistani journalists from Afghanistan’s three eastern provinces. Mr Anwar says he has feared for his life since their visit.
The authorities in Jalalabad banned the sale of The Frontier Post in Nangarhar on Feb 18.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/24/2003
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