September 21, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1424

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LANDI KOTAL, Sept 20: The Tribal Union of Journalists announced on Saturday a complete boycott of news coverage of Tanzim Ittehad-i-Ulema Bara in Khyber Agency.

The decision was made at an emergency meeting of the TUJ, with its president Sailab Masood in the chair.

The tribal journalists’ body took serious exception to the illegal confinement of two of

its senior members by the Tanzim activists in Bara last Thursday.

Mr Nasrullah, president of the Khyber Agency chapter of the TUJ, and Aurangzeb Afridi, senior vice president of the TUJ, were “kept in illegal confinement” by Tanzim’s Naib Amir Maulana Mustameen after a local traders’ union made complaint against the two journalists to him.

The traders’ union representatives accused the two journalists of biased reporting and the Tanzim was also not happy over the coverage of its activities in Bara sub-division.

The TUJ demanded of the Khyber Agency political administration to take stern action against the Naib Amir of the Tanzim for his alleged unlawful action against the local journalists.

RECOVERED: Meanwhile, the political authorities, with the help of a local jirga, recovered a kidnapped leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Gul Rehman, late Friday.

Mr Rehman and a party worker were kidnapped at gunpoint from main Peshawar-Landi Kotal Road in Nikkikhel area three days back.

He was taken to hospital soon after his recovery as he was reportedly badly beaten by the kidnappers and had visible torture marks on his body.

Reacting sharply to the kidnapping and physical torture of their leader, the JUI workers demanded of the authorities to immediately arrest members of another religious organization, whom they alleged were involved in Gul Rehman’s kidnapping and award them exemplary punishment.