Pakistan rapped for media abuse

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There has been an increase in violence against journalists in Pakistan, a US
rights group says.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch says press freedoms have eroded ever
since General Pervez Musharraf came to power four years ago. In an open
letter to the president, the organisation said journalists were
systematically threatened, tortured and detained without charges. It
highlighted the cases of two journalists who were allegedly threatened and
tortured by the Pakistani security forces. Amir Mir, senior assistant editor
of the monthly magazine Herald, was allegedly criticised by the president
last month at a reception for Pakistani newspaper editors, the rights group
said in a statement. President Musharraf is reported to have condemned the
Herald as being anti-army in comments published in Mr Mir's stories. "Two
days later, unidentified persons set Amir Mir's car ablaze outside his
house," the rights group said, adding that Mr Mir then received a message
warning that this was just the beginning. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid
Ahmed denied journalists were being harassed, saying Pakistan's press
freedoms were unmatched in the region. "They can write whatever they want to
write and stories in the Herald are a proof of that," he told Reuters news
agency.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3286589.stm