FIA, police delay newspapers' distribution

By our correspondent

KARACHI: The FIA and police intercepted the vehicles carrying Jang and The News on early Tuesday morning which affected the distribution of newspapers in the city.

The FIA teams, police and traffic police cordoned off all the roads leading to Jang Group's Sultanabad press and started intercepting the vehicles carrying copies of Jang for distribution in the city. They also conducted body search of drivers and checked their registration papers to delay the distribution of newspapers.

Sources in the federal agency said the FIA had been ordered to make sure that all sources of supply of newsprint to the Jang Group were plugged. On Monday, different teams of the FIA Commercial Banking Circle also raided paper godown in the city while the FIA officials released the driver and cleaner of the truck which had been detained on Saturday night while transporting newsprint to Jang. Both of them were detained illegally for 72 hours while the truck remained in the custody of FIA.

The FIA officials also raided the newsprint godown and offices of cable network company Info Highway. Two godowns were sealed and FIA staff posted there. Meanwhile, the FIA also sent six more new cases to the Customs Excise and Taxation court alleging non-submission of returns.

This brings the number of such cases filed recently to 11. According to sources the main aim of the current harassment campaign is to stop the publication of Jang newspapers.

The News International Pakistan