Pakistan Releases Afghan Sikh Journalist

[killah]

Pakistan releases Afghan Sikh journalist

[ 9 Aug, 2006 1738hrs ISTIANS ]

KABUL: Pakistan has released an Afghan Sikh journalist who was arrested on the Pakistan-Afghan border and tortured on charges of being an Indian national, and also apologised over the 'mistreatment'.

Spokesperson of the Radio and Television of Afghanistan, Anwar Wafadar Samandar, informed media persons in Kabul Wednesday that Pakistan had expressed its apology over the arrest of Dayal Singh Ganjana.

Ganjana was arrested by the Frontier Corps on the Pakistan-Afghan border at Spin Boldak while on his way to attend the International Conference on Pushto Literature in Quetta city of Pakistan. Samandar said Ganjana was handed over to the Pakistani intelligence agency. He was tortured. Their charge was that he was an Indian national.

"Pakistan must not have behaved in such a manner," Samandar said.

Ganjana is a highly respected expert of the Pushto Service of the Afghan national broadcaster, Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA).

He was going to Quetta, capital of Balochistan, as a member of an Afghan delegation of journalists, poets and writers. The delegation had the official permission to attend the conference.

At the border post at Spin Boldak, a Pakistani officer allowed them to enter, but immediately on crossing in to Pakistan territory, their vehicles were seized and searched. The Pakistani militiamen behaved in an extremely rude and insulting manner.

The delegation protested and returned back to the Afghanistan side of the frontier check post. But, Ganjana was not allowed to go back by the Pakistani guards. He was handed over to the Pakistan intelligence agencies.

The National Radio and Television of Afghanistan had taken up the matter with the Afghan foreign ministry strongly. The Afghan Journalists Union had also protested.