The Pakistan People's Party has expressed strong exception to the news of the sealing of the Islamabad Press Club and the Holiday Inn Hotel by the police on Sunday. In a press statement, the party's secretary general Sherry Rahman said the Lal Masjid crisis, like the judicial crisis, has spelt bad news for journalists.
According to her, journalists were forced by the authorities to "show restraint" in their coverage of the stand-off. A journalist was killed, and quite a few wounded on the very first day of the operation as the media sought to cover the Lal Masjid crisis.
She said that the police mishandled journalists in Islamabad Press Club and the Holiday Inn Hotel on Sunday, after it was revealed that Lal Masjid Deputy Administrator Abdul Rasheed Ghazi wanted to hold a telephonic press conference at the club.
The Central Information Secretary of the Pakistan People's Party has condemned this latest attack on the media. She also criticised the police for thrashing an Aaj TV reporter, Rahman, terming it another disgraceful episode of highhandedness against the media.