ISLAMABAD, June 2: Editor of The Friday Times, Najam Sethi was released after three weeks on Wednesday when the government cancelled the FIR and withdrew charges of treason against him.

Mr. Sethi, talking to some foreign correspondents after his release, said he was arrested because he had been exposing corruption of the present government.

Some people in the government did not like it and they wanted to teach him a lesson, and warn the journalists community at large, he said.

Mr. Sethi said the result had, however, been quite the contrary and his arrest had attracted a great deal of domestic as well as international criticism. “Nobody can teach a lesson to the press,” he added.

About the treatment meted out to him, he said those who had picked him up were rough. Mr. Sethi, who was also interrogated by the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, said they were good and did a thorough professional job. They did not find anything against him, he added.

He said it was a “great error” on the part of the government to arrest him. If anything happened in future the whole press would fight against it, he added.

Regarding the Supreme Court, he said his confidence in the superior judiciary had been restored.

Responding to a question, he said, he had not been released on bail but had been absolved of the charges leveled against him.

Mr. Sethi thanked all those who supported him and his family and raised voice for his release.

Source: Dawn

Date:6/3/1999