PESHAWAR: Journalists from Peshawar and Khyber Agency (KP), in a meeting on Saturday, condemned the arrest of tribal journalist Khalil Afridi and an employee of Landi Kotal Press Club, and demanded their early release.
Members of KP tribal union of journalists met with Peshawar Press Club President Alamgir Khan to discuss the situation following the detention of five journalists, an employee of Landi Kotal Press club and others, after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detected and diffused in Khalil Afridi’s car.
The journalists maintained that the IED had been planted by unknown persons and that the journalists and press club employee had been unjustly arrested. They said that the detainees were severely beaten and tortured by the police, who later released everybody except Khalil Afridi and the press club employee on Friday night.
The participants of the meeting demanded an early release of the detained, saying that Khalil Afridi had been receiving threats for several years and that the security and law enforcement personnel were well aware of it.
They decided to establish contacts with the authorities of Frontier Corps and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in this connection and to devise their future line of action after getting government’s response.