PESHAWAR, Aug 18: The police on Monday raided the house of a journalist Mukhtar Ahmad in Sawaldher, Mardan, without producing a search warrant.

In a statement issued here, Mr Ahmad, who is associated with the Voice of America’s Pushto service, said that the police had raided his house without any legal justification, adding that the police party was headed by the SHO Katlang Police Station, Mardan, Sher Malook.

He said that he had asked the police official concerned to present legal notice but the raiding party showed “stubbornness” and had insisted upon searching his house. He said that the SHO had said that an outlaw had taken shelter in his home, which he (Mukhtar) termed concocted. He questioned: “If there was any outlaw at his home, then why police did not find him”.

Mr Ahmad termed police action a sheer violation of fundamental rights and an example of police highhandedness, saying that he would go to court against what he termed extra- judicial action.

In a statement issued here on Monday, President of the Khyber Union of Journalists, Sajjad Haider urged the IGP, to take disciplinary against the official concerned.