Pakistani newspaper shut down, burned after publishing letter

By freedomforum.org staff,
The Associated Press

01.30.01

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The Pakistani government shut down the English-language daily Frontier Post in Peshawar yesterday, arresting five staffers. Today hundreds of angry protesters destroyed the Post's printing equipment, accusing the newspaper of publishing a blasphemous letter, according to the Associated Press.

The Frontier Post had carried a letter, received via e-mail, about the Muslim community's alleged hatred of the Jews. Dawn, the largest English-language daily in Pakistan, quoted a magistrate as terming the letter's assertions "derogatory and sacrilegious."

After police raided the offices of the Frontier Post and made the arrests yesterday, they stood by as hundreds of protesters then destroyed the newspaper's printing equipment and set fire to the building. No one was injured.

Shouting slogans against the Frontier Post, protesters marched through the congested streets of Peshawar, demanding the death penalty for the newspaper's owner and journalists.

"Down with Frontier Post!" demonstrators shouted as they threw stones at the building before setting it on fire. "Hang all those who insult the Prophet!"

Policemen in riot gear watched as fire and smoke billowed from the building, where all the machinery and rolls of paper were completely gutted, witnesses said, according to the AP.

Dawn reported that Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Mazhar Ali Shah said the newspaper had carried a sacrilegious piece, and that the district administration would deal with the matter. Dawn also quoted a press release from the district magistrate, noting that "a letter under the title of 'Why Muslims hate Jews,' by Ben DZac, was printed in the 'Your Views'" section of the daily.

"The contents of the letter were highly sacrilegious and derogatory to the Islamic faith and Koran. It appears that the letter has been authored by a Jew," the magistrate said. "The highly objectionable and derogatory material published by the newspaper has grossly hurt the feelings of the Muslim community and have caused immense resentment amongst them."

Those arrested, according to Dawn, were Aftab Ahmed, news editor; Imtiaz Hussain, chief reporter; Qazi Sarwar, senior sub-editor; Munawar Mohsin, in charge of the opinion page, and Wajihullah, layout editor.

The police did not allow local journalists to meet the arrested journalists.

The executive editor of the newspaper was said to be out of town and no other managers were available to speak about the matter. A heavy contingent of police has been deployed outside the newspaper building, according to Dawn.

Meanwhile, the newspaper's office in Karachi said in a statement that it offered an "unqualified apology on the publication of highly blasphemous material masquerading as a letter to the editor," Dawn reported. The Frontier Post statement referred to the event as "a conspiracy," — "not against the Frontier Post alone, but also against the people and the government of Pakistan."

"We have also lodged a complaint with the police," and "have called on the authorities to conduct a judicial probe into the affair to bring out the truth," Dawn quoted the Frontier Post Karachi office as saying.