Afghanistan: Reporters beaten up by security personnel

THE FRONTIER POST

Some reporters were allegedly beaten up by the security forces in Jalalabad on Sunday. The incident happened when local reporters rushed to the area soon after a blast hit a facility of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Jalalabad. Reporters told media that they were beaten up by the security forces. They said the security forces also snatched their journalistic equipment. Those beaten up included as Ziyar Khan Yaad of Zhwandon television, Noorullah of AFP, Mehmood of Aryana televhsion, Zargai of Pajhwok and some others. An organisation of writers and journalists in eastern Afghanistan demanded arrest of those involved in the incident within 24 hours. A statement of the organisation of writers and journalists in eastern Afghanistan, available with the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), said: “We are determined on our stance of protection of rights of journalists.” The statement demanded arrest and trial of those involved in the incident within 24 hours and measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents. The statement said reporters would not highlight any positive report of Nangarhar Governor’s House if the elements involved were not arrested and measures were not adopted to stop recurrence of such incidents. Meanwhile, the Taliban condemned the alleged mistreatment with reporters and their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AIP it was an efforts to hide facts from the people. It’s pertinent to mention here that two intelligence personnel were killed and three more injured in a suicide attack targeting an NDS office in Nangarhar’s capital Jalalabad today.