The South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) and the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) Thursday condemned an attack on two Indian journalists and snatching of their equipment in Lahore, Pakistan.
Jujhar Singh, senior executive producer in NewsX - a 24-hour Indian news channel - told SAMC that he and his cameraman Tilak Raj had stopped near a newspaper store at Anarkali Bazaar for shooting when around six to nine people surrounded them, searched aggressively their pockets, bags and car for a couple of minutes. "Later, they took away our camera, mikes, four chips and mobile phones not sparing our driver even," said Singh.
The SAMC Chairman N. Ram and Secretary General Najam Sethi, and SAFMA Secretary General Imtiaz Alam expressed their shock at the incident calling it "unfortunate and sad at a time when the situation is quite tense". The Indian media-persons had arrived in Pakistan on February 3 on a one-week visit to cover the tension between both the countries anticipating a reply from Pakistan government to the Mumbai attacks dossier this week.
"Since Tuesday evening we have been sensing that we were being monitored by two men," said Jujhar while talking to SAMC. "The two men I had seen sitting in the lobby of the hotel this morning followed us on motor bikes joined by others in a white van as we left our hotel around 1 pm," said Jujhar.
The SAMC and SAFMA officeholders said it was a vicious act to harm all the efforts to bring both the countries back on the peace track. They called upon the government of Pakistan to investigate this incident and ensure the return of the mediapersons' equipment.-PR