NEW YORK, Nov 21: A leading press freedom body honoured four journalists on Tuesday for their work in countries it said were highly dangerous for reporters, including a former member of AFP caught up in Pakistan’s political turmoil.

Mazhar Abbas, of the ARY One World Television, which was shut down by authorities amid political turmoil in the country, was among the four handed the International Press Freedom Award here by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Mr Abbas is a former Karachi bureau chief for AFP and secretary-general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, where he has led opposition to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the CPJ said in a statement.

“It appears the (Pakistani) government has launched a war on terror against the media,” Mr Abbas told a blue-ribbon assembly at the award ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.—AFP