A GRIEVOUS BLOW TO FREEDOM OF PRESS

PESHAWAR - A spokesman for the Frontier Publications, Peshawar, reacting to
the arrest of the Editor-in-Chief of The Frontier Post and Urdu daily
Maidan, Rehmat Shah Afridi, by the ANF, has described it a brazen attempt
at gagging the press.

Denouncing the arrest of Rehmat Shah as a case of political victimisation
of the least dignified variety, the spokesmen spurned the ANF claim of
having recovered 20 kilograms of charas from his Mercedes Car. "In the
presence of so many traffickers and carriers in this country, no sane
person will run the risk of carrying the drug himself," he remarked while
ridiculing the government's concocted, malicious and undignified version of
seizure of charas from the Editor-in-Chief's car. Regarding the seizure of
620 kilograms of hashish from a truck allegedly on the pointation of Rehmat
Shah Afridi, the spokesman reacted that it was nothing unusual for a
politically bankrupt government, "which has been at war with the judiciary,
trying to marginalise the role of Parliament, seeking to abolish the Senate
and going all out to stifle all voices of dissent in addition to its bid to
squash political opposition all flat." Pointing to the contradictions
inherent in the statement of ANF Director, the spokesman asked why Rehmat
Shah Afridi was not arrested in Islamabad, where he was under strict vigil.
"It proves beyond doubt that the Nawaz Sharif government is dead-set
against press freedom.

The government's autocratic streak and dictatorial bent has already been
evident from its tiff with Jang Group."

He accused the government of attacking all independent, vital and vibrant
institutions on one pretext or another.

In this context, he referred to the attack on the Newsline and other
publications which maintained even a pretense of independence.

The spokesman, rejecting ANF Director Brigadier Rizwan's assertions as
groundless and jejune, pointed out that the official did not make even a
fleeting mention of the truck's registration number. "Nor did Mr Riazullah
disclose at the news conference the exact time of Rehmat Shah Afridi's
arrest."

The official story, he added, was full of contradictions. For one thing, he
said, the seizure of charas from a truck in Faisalabad - a city unknown as
a route for drug-trafficking - could not be linked to an individual held in
Lahore.

"For another, the Editor-in-Chief had long been receiving naked threats
from the ruling quarters largely because of his bold editorial policy.

He was very much expecting this eventuality," the spokesman maintained. In
sum, he observed, it was a ludicrous drama enacted by a government which
wants to eliminate its rivals at one fell swoop.

The non-conformist editor's arrest, the spokesman who is also director of
the Group noted, was a plain case of kidnapping that came about in the
heart of the Punjab province. "The ruling clique is intent upon teaching
Rehmat Shah a lesson for espousing the cause of the smaller provinces,
resisting the forces of tyranny, championing press freedom and opposing
divisive projects like the Kalabagh dam."

The spokesman, meanwhile, revealed that Rehmat Shah Afridi feared torture
in custody once his remand was granted by the magistrate. "The trumped-up
case, on the face of it, is a knee-jerk reaction from the government to a
string of news stories and special reports exposing the rulers' corruption
and ANF bosses' connivance at drug-trafficking," he concluded.