PESHAWAR: The political administration of South Waziristan has arrested a senior journalist under the infamous Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), it was reported on Monday.
Sheheryar Mehsud, who is associated with a number of newspapers as a columnist, was arrested by the political administration and kept in a lockup in Tank, the camp office of political administration.
Following the arrest of the journalist, South Waziristan’s journalists went to visit the assistant political agent in Tank. The assistant political agent apprised them that Mehsud was arrested on the directives of high-ups in Peshawar. He further showed them a letter by the FATA Secretariat dated October 20, 2017, which accused Sheheryar Mehsud of signing/attesting application forms of identity cards for Afghan nationals.
However, Sheheryar Mehsud told fellow journalists in a subsequent meeting that he had nothing to do with these allegations, adding that he had requested for cancellation/blocking of these identity cards couple of years back when pointed out by the concerned circles.
Later, Tank Press Club in a meeting condemned the arrest of Mehsud and demanded his immediate release, saying else they will resort to protests throughout FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The press club administration said that they endorse Mehsud’s angle of the story, adding Sheheryar was being victimised.
Sheheryar Mehsud was earlier arrested in 2014 by the authorities as he was critical of the rampant corruption in the political administration and its attitude towards the tribesmen.
