15 May 2004	Saturday	24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 14: Many of the media persons who returned the other day from Lahore where they had gone to cover the 'transit' drama of Shahbaz Sharif's arrival and departure had a number of harrowing tales to tell about the provincial administration's strong-arm tactics to completely censor the video/photo and sound coverage of the event.

When asked who ordered the confiscation of the films and recording equipment on May 11 and when it would be returned, the Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, ducked the question.

The information minister said, "I am in Kuala Lumpur and would respond to your question when I return to Pakistan."

The government is working out a strategy, it seems, is not prepared even to respond to the allegations of wanton abuse of press freedom on May 11 to clarify its position regarding allegations of mistreatment of journalists.

Talking to Dawn, journalists have claimed that the video and audiotapes confiscated by the Punjab police and plainclothes security officials at Lahore international airport at the time of Shahbaz Sharif's forced exile on May 11 have still not been returned to them.

A number of journalists representing the national and international media told Dawn that although most of the recording equipment has been returned, despite their repeated requests "the authorities have refused to hand-back the tapes, camera films and other recorded material."

These journalists said though most of the equipment was returned the following day, all the video and audiotapes were taken out, and films of still cameras erased.

Other journalists who had travelled from London on the flight with Mr Sharif claimed that they were also forced to surrender all their recording equipment, in some cases, even the mobile phones on the suspicion that they may have cameras in them.

The top officials in the information ministry were unavailable to say under what law the journalists were prevented from filming a genuine news event, or were deprived of what they had recorded on the flight that had brought the PML-N leader to Lahore.

A journalist working with an international organization said in one of the most bizarre episodes involving Shahbaz Sharif's return and immediate deportation, the journalists covering the event were treated in a manner that had not even happened during the days of martial law or complete censorship.

A correspondent who travelled with Mr Sharif on the same flight said the moment they stepped out of the aircraft the commandos of the Punjab's Elite Police Force started snatching their cameras and other recording equipment. By that time the PML-N leader had already been whisked away. The commandos and senior officials standing there refused to listen to the journalists' protest, and ordered them to keep walking without looking back.

"At one point when a BBC correspondent demanded that his equipment should be returned, several police commandos pounced upon him, and he was literally dragged through the terminal's staircase," a BBC staffer said.

The journalist said when the cameraman colleague tried to save the BBC correspondent, he too was grabbed, and amidst the usual police unpleasantries, the two were taken out of the terminal, and thrown into a waiting police prison van and their passports taken away.

One of the journalists told Dawn that they were kept in the van for more than 45 minutes, during which their hand luggage was once again searched for more videotapes. They were only allowed to go after yet another round of interrogation and search, during which their laptop and digital camera were also taken away.

"Even if the decision to deport Shahbaz Sharif was taken at the highest level, it's still a mystery as to who ordered a complete black-out of picture and sound of the PML-N leader," said a senior journalist.