The Friday Times editor Najam Sethi arrested
LAHORE, May 8: Senior journalist and editor of The Friday Times, Najam Sethi, was taken into custody by plainclothesmen at his Sir Maratab Ali Road residence in Gulberg in the small hours of Saturday.
A spokesman for the federal government, confirming the arrest in Islamabad, said Mr. Sethi had been taken into custody for interrogation by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for his alleged connection with the Indian intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).
On Saturday (May 8) around 2.45 am several dozen officials of ISI stormed into his house and held up the two armed watchmen. Some of them were in police uniform while the others in plainclothes. All of them carried automatic weapons. They severely beat up the watchmen and forced them to lead the way to Sethi’s room.
Talking to Dawn Jugnoo Mohsin, wife of Najam Sethi, said, she heard her watchman shout that the police had raided the house. She said: “As I opened the door at least eight persons forced their way in pushing me to the ground. Mr. Sethi was in the bed and the intruders went straight to him. They attacked him with batons inflicting heavy blows on the head, neck and shoulders.”
Ms. Mohsin said: “Two intruders were in police uniform while the remaining persons in plainclothes. One of the intruders was holding handcuffs and he used its chain to hit Mr. Sethi.
“When I asked them to produce the warrants for arrest and entry into a private property, one of the intruder said, ‘we will kill him (Mr. Sethi)’ instead of showing the warrants,” she added.
The intruders dragged Mr. Sethi out of the room while continuously hitting him. One official grabbed hold of Jugnoo’s hands while the other tied her hands with a rope. Later, she was locked up in a dressing room.
Ms. Mohsin said, after a brief struggle she managed to free her hands and came out of the dressing room by breaking the lock. She said the watchmen told her that the intruders had come in at least 20 vehicles, some of them were police vans while others were private vehicles.
She said the intruders were operating under the command of an officer sitting in a white car bearing a government registration number plate. During the whole operation the officer did not came out of the car.
Ms Mohsin said, while leaving, the officials had also locked the main gate of the house with chain apparently to prevent anybody from going out or following them.
The arrest of Mr. Sethi was being feared for the past few days. In a press statement issued on Friday, he had expressed the apprehension that some miscreants belonging to Pakistan Muslim League might attack his offices situated on The Mall. Mr. Sethi had stated that the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, and PML Youth Wing chairman, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, would be directly responsible for any harm to his property or person.
It could not be immediately ascertained who had taken Mr. Sethi into custody. The police concerned were contacted but they expressed their ignorance about the raid. The police and FIA officials were contacted soon afterwards but they denied any involvement in the raid or the arrest of Mr. Sethi.
Talking to reporters, the Lahore SSP, Saud Aziz, said he was not aware of any such operation and denied any involvement with the raid or the arrest. He said: “Police have nothing to do with this raid and I have no information who conducted the raid and where they had taken Mr. Sethi.”
FIA officials, too, expressed their ignorance. The FIA Lahore Zone’s deputy director, Javed Noor, told reporters that no official of the FIA had participated in the raid.
The confusion as to who had conducted the raid cleared late in the evening when a spokesman of the federal government in Islamabad made a statement saying that Mr. Sethi had been arrested by the ISI. The spokesman said Naiam Sethi’s recent statement in India was very damaging for the image of Pakistan and had not been expected from a journalist of his calibre. “It is unexpected that he would deliver such a derogatory speech about his own country unless there is a nefarious motive behind it. He has been trying to endanger the sovereignty of Pakistan and has been condemning the creation of Pakistan.”
The spokesman said it was suspected that the journalist had some nexus with RAW. To unearth such links, it was imperative to investigate him in the matters of national security. Consequently, the ISI had taken him into custody.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/9/1999
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