Media under severe attack in Pakistan

Picture from BBC
Media under siege
The News, March 16, 2007

ISLAMABAD: The press was under siege on a Friday that turned into a black day due to the use of brute force by the police.

The office of The News, Islamabad and Geo’s capital headquarters located on the same premises were vandalised by the Punjab police without provocation, as Islamabad’s deputy commissioner and the senior superintendent police kept standing at the corner of the building.

While we were preparing to evacuate to save ourselves from the thrashing by the police, which had entered the premises, the thick smoke of teargas enveloping the surroundings prevented us even moving an inch.

Our Karachi office was insisting that we should leave the building immediately but that was simply impossible because of zero visibility. Initially, it was the Jang building’s main glass entrance that was smashed into pieces by the police.

We never thought that the police would dare enter our office as well. But what happened later was that The News office was twice attacked by the police as if it was the main target. The first assault was launched by a contingent of three or four cops, when we were watching Geo coverage after being literally confined to our office.

Suddenly, an office boy of the Jang group entered the room, followed by a few gun-wielding Punjab policemen. Two cops gatecrashed while others followed. We jumped from our seats to block this unlawful entry of the policemen and tried to push them back. When one cop tried to proceed further, he was stopped by us, while the other policemen were prevented from entering the office. “We are doing this on the orders of the SP,” the cop said. We finally shoved the policeman out of our office. In the scuffle, his cap fell in our room.

Several staffers, including Ansar Abbasi, the Editor Investigations, were present in the office. However, none of the cops touched anyone there. Within a few minutes, a comparatively larger contingent returned with vengeance. They started smashing the windows — as shown in the Geo footage — repeatedly. We were just helplessly watching the scenario.

With the windows completely smashed, we were preparing ourselves for a thrashing but to our good luck, this time none of the cops entered. From outside the room, one of the policemen asked us to give his cap back, which we did. As he got it, he and his other colleagues smashed the remaining windows of The News offices, while hurling abuse at us. But we did not react.

Ironically, the policemen had destroyed The News offices, when Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani entered our corridor after visiting the adjacent Geo headquarters. He saw the attack with his own eyes but was helpless to do anything.

Before that the glass of the back and main entrance gates of the Geo offices was smashed. The police manhandled the staff and beat the security guards. Geo staffers tried to prevent the trespassing by the Punjab police but failed.

Sensing the attack, Geo Bureau chief Hamid Mir went live on air and said the police were about to attack the offices. Geo reporter and producer Asma Chaudhry came under severe assault while Durrani was entering the Geo offices.

At the same time, she was on air, while standing near the outer gate of the Jang building. The police threw stones at her, and she faced teargas shells while discharging her professional duty on the rooftop of the building. When she complained that she was being attacked, Durrani said he could not do anything except to apologise.

Geo reporter Hassan Nasir was arrested but later released. Geo cameramen Khaliq and Alexander were injured by rubber bullets fired by the police. Without any provocation, the police broke the glass of the back door, while hurling abuse at the TV network. Hamid Mir tried to stop policemen, who wanted to enter the building through the front gate. Police also tried to take him away in a jeep, but security guards saved him.

When Durrani visited our office a few minutes after the assault, he condemned the attack in the harshest terms. Deputy Inspector General of Police Shahid Nadim Baloch came to our office, but could not bear the heat of our arguments. He left the office saying there was no point in being here.

Following him was Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim, who was briefed about the attack. He condemned it and expressed solidarity with us. Following the timely photo sessions of Durrani and Tariq Azim, The News and Geo offices saw a beeline of concerned sympathisers including politicians, lawyers and members of civil society. They offered their full support during this testing time and assured the media that they were only a call away if they were ever needed.