The driver was shifted to the Holy Family Hospital after the “well-known captors” threw the blindfolded man in critical condition somewhere at Rawat.The Banni Police, however, have registered the case against unidentified criminals under sections 436, 427, 341, 342, 147 and 149 PPC but haven’t yet traced the “criminals” embroiled in the anti-Jang Group activities.

The driver of the delivery vehicle, Mohammad Razzaq, an employee of the Universal Distribution Network (UDN), said he was attached with the delivery network of the Jang Group as a driver for the last two years, adding that he left the Al-Rehman Building on his vehicle (registration number AJKA-3103) loaded with thousands of copies of the Friday’s edition of Jang for the Akhbar Market, Aabpara, at 2:10am.

He said gunmen on two vehicles intercepted him and straightaway dragged him out of his vehicle and pushed him into one of their cars. The driver said that the gunmen thrashed him inhumanly, blindfolded him and tied his hands on his back with a nylon rope. He said that they kept torturing him during about one-hour-long drive and later threw him out of their vehicle.

Razzaq said that as the light of the dawn appeared, a passer-by untied him and on query, he told him he was at the Chamber Road near Rawat. He, however, walked to Rawat and sought help from a van driver and informed his brother from the van driver’s mobile phone who reached there and started searching the delivery vehicle, which was left at the place from where he was kidnapped. His brother shifted him to the Holy Family Hospital as his condition was worsening, the driver said.

In the meantime, an employee of Geo TV living on the however, shifted him to Holy Family Hospital as his condition was worsening, the driver said.In the meantime, an employee of Geo TV living at Kuri Road (Sadiqabad) found the Jang’s delivery van which was burnt along with Friday religious edition of the newspaper. He informed chief security officer of the Jang Group about location of the van at Kuri Road.

The management of the Jang Group reprinted the burned copies and sent them for distribution.Earlier, on May 30, unidentified assailants equipped with lethal weapons, set the van carrying The News and Jang Friday edition to transport to Islamabad, after creating fear among the people at Committee Chowk. People who witnessed the last Friday attack confirmed that the assailants were carrying lethal weapons and they acted as professional fighters. “Their delivery was not like normal citizens or agitators but they seemed as trained people,” the witnesses said.

Mohammad Razzaq said that about 10/12 gunmen, carrying kalashnikovs, suddenly jumped in front of the van and pointed their guns towards him, asking him to come out of the van if he wants to save his life otherwise they would burn him alive. He said that three were holding pistols and remaining were carrying kalashnikovs.

The News

It appears as if the ghost of General Ziaul Haq is still haunting the freedom of the press like it had done during the worst dictatorship during the late ’70s and ’80s.Geo TV invited the wrath of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) by airing the apprehensions of senior journalist Hamid Mir through his brother, that too after the near fatal attack on the senior anchorperson.

Instead of using legal means, some forces have directed all the defence institutions and cantonments to black out Geo TV from cable, and the order was complied with in no time. The hawkers in the Cantt areas have also been directed not to supply daily Jang and The News in cantonments all over Pakistan.

The forces who only know how to use muscle instead of reasoning and logic did not wait for the decision of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) where the ISI has lodged a complaint against the Jang Group and instead started implementing the contents of this complaint in the cantonments and defence institutions.

Adoption of legal battle to achieve a remedy against a wrong is always appreciated but, despite knowing the fact that only Pemra can order closure of any channel, these forces have themselves assumed the job of the regulator and have ordered cable operators in Cantt areas not to air Geo TV, which by no means is legal.

However, the poor cable operators have no other choice but to bow before the all-powerful men in boots.Importantly, 95 percent population of cantonments is civilian but they too are forced to bear the consequences of the illegal order originated out of garrisons of blacking out Geo TV and not letting the hawkers to sell/ distribute ‘Daily Jang’ and ‘The News’ in the areas controlled by the Pakistan Army.

Every institution has its jurisdiction and it must remain within the ambit of its jurisdiction otherwise things get worse. If any institution has any issues with Geo TV, there are proper forums where such issues could be addressed. For instance, there is the forum of Pemra and also the courts but some forces only know to use force instead of application of laws.

It is not the first time that the Jang Group has been subjected to such censorship as the subscribers have not forgotten the 1997 and 2007 blackouts by the powerful governments but in the end, it was sanity that prevailed and not the senseless power.

The Jang Group has always been adopting the legal means to fight the wrongs done with it and still many cases, including defamation, are pending before the courts.In the present case, despite adopting the legal channel of action against Geo TV through a complaint lodged with Pemra, the forces, without waiting for the outcome of the complaint, have illegally imposed censorship on Pakistan’s most popular media group. However, the Jang Group lives in the hearts of people; it can be blacked out on cable, hawkers can be stopped from selling its newspapers but how can someone remove Geo/Jang/The News from the hearts of millions of Pakistanis?

The News