PESHAWAR – Reporters Sans Frontieres [RSF], a media rights organization, demanded the release of journalist Sarwar Mujahid, who was arrested on July 1 in Okara.

Mr Mujahid, who works for Nawa-i-Waqt, was allegedly arrested without an arrest warrant for writing articles about the conflict between Pakistani paramilitaries and peasant farmers in Okara, sources said.

Forty-two year old Mujahid is being held under the Maintenance of Public Order Act. According to the Act, a person can be detained for three months if the government considers him or her a “threat to public order”. The Human Rights Watch Report issued in July 2004 condemned “military repression”, particularly “acts of torture” against peasants in Okara district.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/10/2004