10 April 2004	Saturday	19 Safar 1425

KARACHI, April 9: Journalists associated with local print and electronic media boycotted Friday's proceedings of the Sindh Assembly in protest against misbehaviour with two reporters by security staff at the main gate of the assembly building.

This was the second such incident in a little over a fortnight. It occurred when the chief reporter of Pakistan Press International (PPI) and another reporter arrived at the assembly building and presented their NICs and the entry passes, issued by the assembly secretariat through the provincial information department, to the security staff.

The security personnel did not allow the PPI correspondent to enter into the building saying that there was no seal on his entry pass. The security staff was informed that the reporter had been covering the assembly proceedings on the same card, and was also told that it was the responsibility of the assembly secretariat to ensure that the entry passes carried a proper seal.

However, the security official used unbecoming language against the two reporters and took them to his superior who, too, behaved in a high-handed fashion. Journalists covering the session walked out of the press gallery and announced a boycott of the rest of the day's proceedings.