‘Unity will set us freeÂ’
The Clifton Police Station resembled the grounds of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) last night with journalists present all around the police station’s premises waiting for the return of five of their colleagues who had been charged separately under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Ghulam Mustafa (Geo News), A.H. Khanzada (Dawn News), Moosa Kaleem (Herald), Omer Asghar (Daily Express) and Najib Peji (Daily Jang), were separated from over 180 journalists who were picked up from the KPC after protesting against the curbs that have been placed on the media since the imposition of emergency.
They had cases slapped on them and were to be sent to Karachi Central Jail.
Meanwhile, the release order for the detained journalists (sans the five aforementioned ones) came through from the Governor’s House.
However, in a show of strength, journalists at all police stations refused to leave without their five colleagues. A sizable crowd gathered at the Clifton Police Station where the ones who had been arrested were to return.
“We won’t leave the police station till we see them,” said all those present. With the passage of time, the number of journalists at the Clifton Police Station started increasing. Originally, only 33 journalists were held in there; but, by the time the ones who had charged under the MPO started arriving, the crowd waiting to give them a welcome had swelled close to a hundred.
A huge cheer went up as they started arriving one by one. It was a hero’s welcome. Cries of “Hum Chheen Ke Lein Ge Azadi!” rang out in the night as police men walked on.
“They wanted to isolate us,” said Ghulam Mustafa on his release. “I don’t think they would have let us go if the rest of the journalists had not refused to leave unless we were released.”
Others at the rally agreed with him.
“Unity is the only thing that we’ve got,” said a journalist who had turned up to support his colleagues, even though he hadn’t been arrested. Others present agreed that by the brutal baton charging of journalists at the KPC and the arresting of about 180 protesting journalists (the official figure given by authorities was 125), the government had added fuel to the fire. First it was broadcast journalists fighting for their rights, now print journalists have joined them.
Source: The News
Date:11/21/2007
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