PARIS, Oct 4: International journalists’ rights organization, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), on Saturday called on Pakistan to protect two newsmen who were detained on Sept 18,2003, by an “outlawed fundamentalist group” in Khyber Agency.

According to RSF’s Asia-Pacific spokesman Vincent Brossel, although the two were released later by the group, Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ulema, “they still feel threatened and concerned for their security”.

RSF’s condemnation of the incident came just after it was reported that journalist Amir Bux Brohi of the daily Kawish was shot dead by three unidentified armed men in Shikarpur on Friday night.

Nasrullah Afridi and Aurangzeb Afridi, correspondents of the Peshawar-based Urdu dailies, Mashriq and Subah, were detained in a private prison by the Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ulema for several hours before being released as a result of pressure from influential persons.

After the incident, they were summoned for a meeting with the organization, but they did not attend the event. Now the newsmen are receiving threats warning them that they should fear for their lives if “they don’t give up the idea of a free press in Khyber Agency”.

The RSF in a letter to the government has urged NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah to do everything necessary to ensure their safety.