The other high profile episode was the victimisation and harassment of journalis

ts who had cooperated in the production of the British Broadcasting Corporation s

(BBC) documentary Correspondent dealing with corruption in the government and busi
ness concerns of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and allegations of money-laund
ering by his family.
The intimidation of journalists became public when intelligence agents in Lahore
picked up Mehmood Ali Khan Lodhi, of The News, Lahore, on May 2. Lodhi was rele
ased after two days of interrogation on May 4, after journalists boycotted the c
overage of the Punjab provincial assembly to protest Lodhi s abduction and demande
d information about his whereabouts. There was no official explanation for his i
llegal detention.
According to Lodhi, the interrogators wanted to know details of his involvement
with a BBC team. Lodhi said the BBC had contacted him and he gave them the addre
ss, telephone numbers and directions to the house of Yousuf Aziz, Sharif s estrang
ed cousin. Lodhi said that the interrogators were anxious to find the motives be
hind the documentary. He added that during the making of the documentary, he had
received death threats for working with BBC.
On May 4, just after midnight, Hussain Haqqani, spokesperson of the opposition a
lliance and columnist for The Friday Times and the daily Jang was taken into the
custody of Pakistan s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on corruption and embezz
lement charges. However, the real reason for his detention was to punish him for
the interview he gave to programme Correspondent .
The same day, Ejaz Haider, a news editor of The Friday Times, received an anonym
ous note warning him to install bulletproof windows in his car. Haider was not h
ome at the time the note was delivered to Haider s 7-year-old son. Haider believed
he was targeted because he worked for The Friday Times, whose owner, Najam Seth
i had played a significant role in facilitating the production of Correspondent .
Sethi had to bear the full force of the government s anger for his role in organis
ing the visit and for being interviewed for the programme. According to press re
ports, senior government officials had cautioned him not to work with the BBC te
am, terming it an attempt to destabilise the country and overthrow the governmen
t. Sethi said he had received numerous threatening phone calls; he feared that h
is house and office would be attacked and he would be arrested.
His fears proved to be well founded; on May 8, about fifteen armed men arrived i
n vehicles bearing government registration plates stormed Sethi s house at around
3:00 am and started beating Sethi s two personal guards posted at the gate. They t
hen entered the house and banged at the bedroom door. As soon as Sethi opened th
e door they started beating him. His wife, Jugnu Mohsin, was also beaten and loc
ked in a room and warned not to raise the alarm. The officials became abusive wh
en she asked to see the arrest warrants.
The official reason given for his arrest was a speech he had delivered at the In
dia-Pakistan Friendship Society on April 30 in New Delhi on problems facing Paki
stan. The official charge did not have much credibility as Sethi had delivered t
he same speech earlier to the armed forces personnel at the National Defence Col
lege. A government spokesman also alleged that Sethi had been arrested for his a
nti-state activities and links with Indian intelligence agents.
Sethi was detained for several days at an undisclosed location. The police even
refused to acknowledge that he had been arrested, although information was leake
d to the press that he was in the custody of military s Inter-Services Intelligenc
e (ISI) agency.
On May 12, the Lahore High Court rejected a petition by Jugnu Mohsin to produce
Sethi before the court because he was being held by military intelligence. On Ma

y 13, authorities seized copies of The Friday Times.

On May 17, the Supreme Court ordered that Sethi s family be allowed to meet with h
im. The Supreme Court ruled that hearings to determine whether the ISI could arr
est Sethi under the Army Act would start on May 31.
On June 1, the ISI transferred Sethi to police custody, after an official crimin
al complaint or First Information Report (FIR) was filed against him under secti
ons 123-A ( Condemnation of the Creation of the State and Advocacy of Abolition of
its Sovereignty ), 124-A (sedition), and 153-A ( Promoting Enmity Between Different
Groups ) of Pakistan s penal code, and Section 13 of the Prevention of Anti-Nationa
l Activities Act of 1974.
However, on June 2, during the hearing of Sethi s bail application filed by Mohsin
, the attorney general of Pakistan made the surprise announcement that the gover
nment had decided to drop all charges against Sethi. The attorney general, howev
er, added the government reserved the right to start new proceeding against Seth
i. He was released the same day.
Even after his release, the government continued to harass Sethi. On June 10, Se
thi accused the government of using the income tax department to intimidate him
and his wife. He said the government had issued over two dozen notices against h
im, his wife, The Friday Times and Vanguard Books, his publishing company. His w
ife s bank account was frozen and money was transferred to the tax department. The
income tax department reopened settled income tax assessments and had laid clai
m to, or attached , his family s house.
On June 23, officials of Federal Immigration Authority (FIA) at the Lahore Inter
national Airport prevented Sethi from going to London to receive Amnesty Interna
tional s Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat. Sethi was informe
d that his name had been placed on the Exit Control List on June 2, which barred
him from travelling abroad.
The next day, a petition was filed by Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a member of Prime Min
ister Nawaz Sharif s political party to disqualify Sethi from voting or running fo
r any elected office. However, on October 6, the Chief Election Commissioner of
Pakistan dismissed a petition. The Chief Election Commissioner did not elaborate
on his decision.