05 December 2004	Sunday	22 Shawwal 1425

PESHAWAR, Dec 4: Newsmen covering the case of sexual abuse of students in a school were attacked by the supporters of suspects in the premises of sessions courts here on Saturday.

Two photographers took refugee in courtrooms as the attackers tried to snatch their cameras.

The police has registered an FIR against the attackers including a section officer of the Education Department, Jamil Khan. They had also been searching for one of the attackers who took out a pistol on newsmen.

Soon after the court on Saturday pronounced its order regarding the pre-arrest bail petition of nine former staffers of a local school, six of the staffers were taken into custody by the police.

Outside the courtroom photographers tried to take some shots of the accused persons, which infuriated their supporters, mostly teachers, who were about 50 in number. They attacked the newsmen. When the photographers took refuge inside the courtroom, the attackers took positionoutside the main entrance of the court. They waited there for the newsmen for half-an-hour but later dispersed.

The Peshawar District and Sessions Judge, Hayat Ali Shah, took note of the issue and ordered that proper security should be provided to the newsmen.

After the occurrence journalists held a protest demonstration. The protesting journalists marched from the Peshawar Press Club to the Chief Minister House. They handed over a memorandum to the officials there.

The protesters were addressed by the president of Peshawar Press Club, Mohammad Riaz, and president of All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation, Shareef Mohmand. They condemned the highhandedness of the teachers.

The journalists decided to boycott all the activities of teachers and education department including the provincial education minister. They demanded that the police should provide them security during covering the of case.