PAKISTAN: Journalists appeal for help

PAKISTAN: Journalists appeal for help

LAHORE — Police raided the Lahore Press Club on July 10 in an attempt to arrest a small traders' leader holding a press conference inside the building. Twenty-four journalists who sought to deny the police entry were assaulted.

Police and a magistrate were outside the Press Club when the traders' leader, Umer Sailya, arrived. They could have arrested him then, or even waited outside the building's only entrance to arrest him on his way out. The journalists believe the decision to instead storm the building was motivated by a desire to harass them.

The journalists held a protest on July 12 against the police raid. They have appealed for letters of protest to be sent to the Pakistani government demanding that action be taken against police officials, including Cantt Jawad Doggar, Abbass Shah and magistrate Usman Ghanni, that police guarantee security and respect for the journalists and their representative bodies, and that the government guarantee press freedom.

Fax your protest letter to the Governor of Punjab, General Safdar, at +92 42 00077. Support messages for the Lahore Press Club should be faxed to +92 42 6303808 or +92 42 6314519.

BY ZAHIR BABUR

[The author is the secretary of the Lahore Press Club.]

From GLW issue 412