Tribal union condemns arrest of three journalists : Protest at Bara market closure
PESHAWAR, June 28 2006: Various organisations of Khyber Agency held a joint rally in front of the Peshawar Press Club on June 27 to protest the closure for the last 17 days of the main market in Bara, the agency headquarters, The Doctor’s Association Bara (DAB), Tajiran Union Bara (TUB) and Transport Association of Khyber Agency (TAKA) took part in the rally, Speaking on the occasion, TUB General Secretary Said Ayaz Afridi said the administration had made lame excuses for not opening the market He said that the authorities with all their might were unable to arrest Mengal Bagh Afridi, but were insisting that the tribesmen arrest him. “If they (authorities) do not know where Bagh is, I tell them that he is in Gogrina,” Ayaz said, adding it was impossible for them to arrest him as he enjoyed the support of his fellow tribesmen.
He said that the prolonged curfew in Bara was affecting the businesses of tribesmen and had halted education and developmental activities, He said that innocent people were suffering financial loss, while Bagh and his Laskar-e-Islami were untouched, Ayaz condemned the goverrunent’s handling of the situation in Bara, “We condemn the role of the goverrunent in this hour of crisis, which opted for use of force instead of negotiations,” he said, He said that the situation in the agency was deteriorating every day, and warned that if tribesmen continued to be “pushed up against the wall”, they might be forced to “take an extreme step”, He said that high inflation had made it difficult for people to feed their families, Meanwhile, tribal journalists have condemned the arrest of three tribal journalists including Kha1il Afridi, president of the Tribal Union of Journalist (TUJ) in Khyber Agency, by the political authorities.
Former TUJ president Iqbal Afridi told Daily Times the accusations against the journalists were concocted and they were being punished for reporting the truth, He said that the three arrested journalists had published an interview of Mangal Bagh, the Lashkar-e Islarni chief. He alleged that the political authorities had set guidelines for tribal journalists to follow in their reports and if they didn’t, they would be arrested. “They would try to bribe you first followed by a threat and if this fails to make you obey, you are bound to land in jail,” Afridi said.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/28/2006
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