MULTAN, June 5: Annoyed by the reporting of increasing crime in Makhdoompur Pahooran, Khanewal police arrested and tortured five journalists.

Journalists Muhammad Ayoob Niazi, Irfan Ahmed Malik, Lal Khan, Rana Abdul Sattar and Mirza Nasir said that the residents of Chak No 12 AH, Rakh Makhdoom, staged blocked Khanewal-Makhdoompur Road against robberies in the village on May 19.

They said that deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mian Tanvir and Makhdoompur station house officer (SHO) Chaudhry Yousaf pressured them not to report the incident to their newspapers and threatened them with consequences if they did so.

They said that Makhdoompur police arrested Niazi, Malik and Khan on Monday in a case under sections 751 and 107 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) when they went to the police station along with Sattar and Nasir to settle a dispute between two rival groups. Later, the police registered a case against Sattar and Nasir under sections 334, 337A2, 337A1, 149 and 148 of the PPC and arrested them, they added. They alleged that police tortured them throughout the night after stripping them. They said that police targeted them for their reporting of crime in the area.

A court granted the journalists bail on Tuesday, while the police would produce them in court in another case today (Wednesday).

DSP Tanwir told Dawn that it was a dispute between two groups and that he never stopped anyone from press coverage.

SHO Yousaf said the journalists were blackmailers and they were facing what they had done. He said there was no dispute between the police and journalists.

Regional police officer Mirza Muhammad Ali said that a police enquiry committee that would be acceptable to the journalists would investigate the case. He said action would be taken against police officials if they were found guilty.