SKARDU, May 30: The local administration on Thursday night seized the Skardu Press Club building and handed it over to the local health department.

Journalists later put up a tent to establish a press club outside the premises and said they would stay put until the building was not vacated.

In 2002, then interior minister and chief executive of Northern Areas Nisar Memon had given the building to journalists for use as the press club and information complex, so it has been in possession of journalists for 11 years.

Journalists alleged that the administration officials removed the press club boards, including the plaque, and took away computers, cameras, furniture, tables, TV sets, multimedia equipment, furniture, carpets and other goods.

Soon after the incident, journalists gathered outside the building to stage a protest.

Political activists, lawyers and civil society activists also showed up in large numbers.

Carrying placards and shouting slogans against the district administration and Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah, they later took out a rally and staged a sit-in in front of the Baltistan commissioner’s office.

Skardu Press Club president Nisar Abbas alleged that the chief minister had ordered the building’s seizure to punish the local media for highlighting his government’s corruption and mismanagement.

PML-N leader Akbar Taban, who was also in attendance, condemned the seizure of the press club building and said his party stood by journalists and would continue raising voice against their intimidation by the administration.

He said the district administration should give the building back to journalists without delay.