DATE=5/6/99
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-249038
TITLE=PAK / PRESS CRACKDOWN (L)
BYLINE=SCOTT ANGER
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THE NEW YORK-BASED "COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS" HAS
WRITTEN A LETTER TO PAKISTAN'S PRIME MINISTER, PROTESTING
HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS BY THE GOVERNMENT. AS CORRESPONDENT
SCOTT ANGER REPORTS, JOURNALISTS IN PAKISTAN SAY PRESSURE FROM
THE GOVERNMENT HAS INCREASED BECAUSE OF CRITICAL REPORTING OF
ALLEGED CORRUPTION BY THE PRIME MINISTER'S FAMILY.
TEXT: THE ALLEGED PRESSURE ON THE NEWS MEDIA FOLLOWS A SERIES OF
CRITICAL STORIES PUBLISHED IN PAKISTAN'S ENGLISH-LANGUAGE
NEWSPAPERS, OUTLINING CHARGES OF CORRUPTION AGAINST PRIME
MINISTER NAWAZ SHARIF AND HIS FAMILY.
ONE OF THE JOURNALISTS WHO HAS BEEN CRITICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT IS
HUSSAIN HAQQANI, A FORMER SECRETARY IN THE MINISTRY OF
INFORMATION UNDER THEN PRIME MINISTER BENAZIR BHUTTO. HE WAS
PICKED UP -- ALONG WITH HIS BROTHER --BY INTELLIGENCE AGENTS LATE
TUESDAY AND REPORTEDLY BEATEN.
HUSSAIN HAQQANI'S BROTHER, HASSAN, SAYS HE WAS RELEASED AFTER
FOUR-HOURS, WHEN AGENTS LEARNED HE IS A LIEUTENANT COLONEL IN THE
PAKISTANI ARMY.
RECOVERING AT HOME, COLONEL HAQQANI SAYS HE FEARS FOR HIS
BROTHER'S LIFE.
/// HAQQANI ACT ///
IF THEY CAN BUNDLE HIM OFF LIKE THEY DID, EVERYTHING IS
POSSIBLE. THINGS ARE VERY CLEAR, THEY DID NOT WANT ME, THEY
WANTED HIM.
/// END ACT ///
IN A RECENT COLUMN, HUSSAIN HAQQANI CRITICIZED THE GOVERNMENT FOR
NOT ALLOWING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN PAKISTAN. HIS LAWYER,
AKRAM SHEIKH SAYS IT WAS THAT ARTICLE WHICH PROMPTED THE
GOVERNMENT TO ARREST HIM.
/// SHEIKH ACT ///
MR. HAQQANI HAS RECENTLY WRITTEN AN ARTICLE IN ONE OF THE
LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPERS AND THIS APPEARED LAST WEDNESDAY.
IT IS SPECULATED WIDELY THAT MR. HAQQANI'S ARREST IS A
CONSEQUENCE OF THAT ARTICLE.
/// END ACT ///
THREE-DAYS AFTER MR. HAQQANI'S DISAPPEARANCE, PAKISTAN'S
ACCOUNTABILITY CHIEF, SAIF-UR REHMAN CONFIRMS THE JOURNALIST HAS
BEEN ARRESTED. HE ALSO DENIES THE GOVERNMENT IS WAGING A
CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT AGAINST JOURNALISTS.
/// REHMAN ACT ///
NO, THERE IS NO CRACKDOWN ON JOURNALISTS IN PAKISTAN. WHAT IS
HAPPENING IS HUSSAIN HAQQANI WAS ARRESTED ON BASIS OF CORRUPTION.
THERE HAVE BEEN CASES (FILED) AGAINST HIM IN THE COURTS AND ON
THE BASIS OF THAT, HE WAS ARRESTED, THAT IS ALL.
/// END ACT ///
IN ITS LETTER, "THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS" SAYS IT IS
ALARMED BY THE NUMBER OF JOURNALISTS IT CHARGES ARE BEING
HARASSED AND DETAINED BY THE PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT FOR GRANTING
INTERVIEWS TO A FOREIGN TELEVISION CREW. A PRODUCTION CREW FROM
THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION IS REPORTEDLY FILMING A
DOCUMENTARY FOCUSING ON ALLEGED CORRUPTION BY PRIME MINISTER
SHARIF.
NAJAM SETHI, EDITOR OF "THE FRIDAY TIMES" -- AN INDEPENDENT
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER -- SAYS HIS INTERVIEW BY THE
T-V CREW HAS UPSET THE GOVERNMENT.
/// SETHI ACT ///
MY PAPER HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT THESE THINGS (GOVERNMENT
CORRUPTION) FOR MANY YEARS. AND SINCE I WAS A MINISTER IN THE
CARETAKER GOVERNMENT LOOKING AFTER ACCOUNTABILITY, IT IS ASSUMED
BY THE GOVERNMENT THAT I HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF MANY THINGS THAT HAVE
NOT YET BEEN MADE PUBLIC. AND I FEAR THEY SUSPECT THAT I MAY
HAVE DIVULGED SOME OF THOSE DETAILS TO THE B-B-C. SO I HAVE BEEN
SINGLED OUT FOR ATTACK IN THE HOPE OF TRYING TO DISCREDIT ME.
/// END ACT ///
MR. SETHI SAYS HE DOES NOT SEE AN END TO THE ALLEGED CAMPAIGN BY
THE GOVERNMENT.
/// SETHI ACT TWO ///
WE ALL FEAR THAT A VERY SEVERE, MASSIVE, VICIOUS CRACKDOWN IS,
PERHAPS, IN THE OFFERING AS FAR AS THE SMALL INDEPENDENT PRESS IS
CONCERNED -- AND AS FAR AS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS ARE CONCERNED.
/// END ACT ///
THE NEW YORK-BASED JOURNALISTS GROUP IS ASKING PRIME MINISTER
NAWAZ SHARIF TO ABANDON THE ALLEGED CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOURNALISTS.
SUCH A CAMPAIGN WOULD VIOLATE THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. (SIGNED)
NEB/SA/RAE
06-May-99 9:12 AM EDT (1312 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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