August 3, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23,1423

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SRINAGAR, Aug 2: The chief of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in South Asia has urged the Indian army to look into the circumstances that led to a raid on the residence of the BBC’s reporter in Srinagar.

Altaf Hussain said soldiers had raided his office-residence on Thursday night.

The head of the BBC in South Asia, Paul Danahar, has taken up the matter with the Indian army commander in held Kashmir, Hussain said in a statement.

“He (Danahar) has requested him to look into the circumstances surrounding the decision to carry out last night’s raid,” the statement said.

Hussain said the raid took place after the army intercepted a militant conversation over a radio set in which they mentioned the reporter’s telephone number.

“I explained to the army officers that it is not unusual for a variety of groups to have the telephone numbers of journalists as they often contact the media after acts of violence,” Hussain said.

He added that the soldiers acted “with complete professionalism” and he had no complaints against them.

The army left after the police chief in the held valley, Rajindera Kumar, called up and spoke to an official.—AFP