June 20, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423

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QUETTA, June 19: The Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) personnel deployed at Manan Chowk manhandled the bureau chief of Online, a news agency, here on Wednesday.

Irfan Saeed, along with a relative, was on his way to the Quetta Press Club in his car when an ATF man near Manan Chowk signalled him to stop. Mr Saeed parked his car at roadside.

In the meantime, some ATF men rushed to the car and started beating Mr Saeed and his companion on the pretext that they should have stopped at the spot where they were signalled. The newsman told them that he had original documents of the car, but they paid no heed to it.

The Balochistan Union of Journalist, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors and office-bearers of the Quetta Press Club have strongly condemned the manhandling of Irfan Saeed. They demanded of Governor Amirul Mulk Mengal to take notice of the incident and initiate an action against the people involved in the case.

Journalists in Quetta have been protesting against police attitude for the last 20 days for arresting the sub editor of a local newspaper, Rashid Butt, and registering cases against him and his chief executive and publisher of the paper, Shahghasi.