RELEASE RAHMAT SHAH AFRIDI

The editor in chief of The Frontier Post, Rehmat Shah Afridi, has
been languishing in prison in Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore for nearly ten
years since he was arrested in 1997 and later summarily convicted on
trumped up charges of hashish smuggling by an "independent
judiciary". In fact his real crime was two-fold: he had upset Mr
Nawaz Sharif by supporting Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s and later
treaded on the toes of the anti-drug establishment and tried to
expose the corruption in its midst. His trial was a mockery of
justice in many ways that were recorded by the media at that time.
Worse, he has spent nearly ten years in prison, which is more than
the time a life sentence carries once all the remissions are taken
into account. But the establishment has tended to treat him as a
"disappeared" person by refusing to grant any remissions to him and
keeping him locked up. Needless to say, his health has deteriorated
to the breaking point.

The PPP government's pro-media and democratic credentials have
already been enhanced by the proposed anti-PEMRA bill in parliament.
It should now do the honourable and just thing by ordering the
immediate release of Rehmat Shah Afridi and winning hearts and minds
all round.