Offices of Geo, Jang group ransacked
KARACHI, January 30,2005:About 30 to 35 unidentified people, riding on 18 to 20 motorcycles, attacked the main building of the Jang Group of Publications here in the wee hours of Saturday at about 2.00am.
They opened fire, beat the security staff of the building and overpowered them. Later they ransacked the reception area and smashed the mechanised glass doors of the main entrance.
Thereafter they dashed to the mezzanine floor, where they also broke the glass doors of Geo TV offices and then entered the office of Daily Awam, an Urdu-language eveninger of the Jang Group. The reporting section of the Daily Awam was damaged.
The attackers were armed with weapons and also carried bags of stones, which they pelted all around freely. The renegades also broke open the locked doors of the cash counter and took away cash and valuables. One of the cabinets was also set to fire.
Turning to the parking lot of the Daily Jang building, the self-styled vigilantes damaged seven vehicles of Daily Jang and Geo TV and personal cars of staffers of the Group.
The attackers did not even spare the relief camp set up along the building by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Foundation for collecting relief goods for the tsunami victims. They uprooted the camp and threw the collected relief goods across the I I Chundrigar Road.
A police mobile was present at the scene of the incident while more contingents of police reached the spot on information. Later the attackers fled in the presence of police giving threat of serious consequences and using abusive language.
The Jang Group considers the attack was in reaction over the publication of a TV interview of the deputy prime minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, with reference to India in the newspapers of the Jang Group, especially in Daily Jang and The News.
The officials of Jang Group in Islamabad had received a telephone call form a foreign journalist who spoke in a threatening tone and asked aggressive and sensitive questions regarding the publication of the interview. Another call was received from the said journalist after the attack.
The Group had also received a number of telephone calls with threats of serious consequences over the Friday telecast of the weekly programme ‘Uljhan, Suljhan’, which deals with psychological problems of the invitees and the viewers at large. The report of the incident has been lodged with the Mithadar Police Station and the matter is under investigation.
Source: The News
Date:1/30/2005
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