DECEMBER 5, 2005 Posted: December 5, 2005 Hayat Ullah Khan, Ausaf ABDUCTED Khan was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where authorities said a top Al-Qaeda leader was killed on December 1, 2005. Five men with AK-47 assault rifles forced Khan’s car off the road, his brother Mohammad Ehsan,…
New York, December 5, 2005 —The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Pakistani authorities to act with the utmost speed to find journalist Hayat Ullah Khan, who was kidnapped today by unidentified gunmen in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where authorities say a top Al-Qaeda leader was killed last week. Five men…
NOVEMBER 14, 2005 Posted: December 2, 2004 Mast FM 103 CENSORED The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PERMA) raided the Karachi-based Mast FM 103, seizing its transmission equipment and halting its broadcasts, according to press reports. The station was accused of violating the ban on the rebroadcast of foreign news, in this case a BBC…
New York, October 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened by the tremendous loss of life in Pakistan, and sends its condolences to the families and colleagues of journalists killed in the earthquake. At least three journalists were killed in the October 8 tragedy and five are unaccounted for. Some 50 journalists have…
New York, August 23, 2005—The government of the southern province of Sindh banned three Karachi-based weekly newspapers last week accusing them of creating “sectarian extremism and hatred.” Officials withdrew the publication permits of the three weeklies on August 15 because they published “objectionable material” that caused “danger to public safety/order.” Police had already raided the…
New York, July 20, 2005—Police in Karachi cracked down on Islamic fundamentalist publications in the past week, raiding the offices of several newspapers, arresting four journalists and several newspaper vendors, and confiscating copies of the publications. On Saturday, police raided and shut down the offices of the fundamentalist Urdu-language weekly Zarb-i-Islam, arresting editor Nasir Ali…
New York, July 5, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the arrest of two reporters for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Asa’ad Abad, the capital of Konar Province in eastern Afghanistan late last week. The reporters remain in custody in the capital, Kabul, according to Radio Free Afghanistan’s chief editor, Sharifa…
New York, May 27, 2005—The Pakistani government has banned state-sponsored advertising in two newspapers owned by a leading conservative media company, the Urdu-language daily Nawa-i-Waqt and the English-language daily The Nation. According to reports in The Nation, last week’s ban was implemented in direct retaliation for an April ad that both dailies ran from the…