‘Badakhshan officials mistreating journalists’

KUNDUZ CITY (PAN): Journalists in northeastern zone on Wednesday complained that officials in Badakhshan province were mistreating reporters and denying them access to information.

A large number of journalists, who held a meeting in northeastern Kunduz province, strongly criticised what they called mistreatment of journalists at the hands of officials in Badakhshan.

The meeting comes after a reporter with a private TV channel, Nasir Ahmad Sadiq, was insulted by the new police chief of Badakhshan, Gen Fazluddin Ayar.

Sadiq said the police chief insulted him when he contacted him for information about the killing of two members of a family. He alleged the police chief warned him against contacting him again.

Sadiq said he had an audio record of his conversation with Gen Ayar.

Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan are provinces in the country’s northeast, where journalists contact the Culture Foundation and Media Relations’ Office in Kunduz for information.

The foundation’s chief, Zabihullah Mujaddadi, said Badakhshan officials did not receive phone calls from journalists, thus denying them their right to information.

He said Badakhshan’s governor and police chief had no spokesmen and they personally did not talk to journalists.

A reporter with Khurshid private TV channel, Shafiq Poya, complained he was denied information about a clash between militants and police in Badakhshan despite repeated attempts.

The Journalists’ Protection Committee chief in northeastern zone, Rahmatullah Hamnawa, said Sadiq’s complaint had been registered with the committee and shared with the journalist association.

Hamnawa added he had also raised the matter with Badakhshan police chief, who accused the reporter becoming emotional during conversation with him. He said the police chief told him he respected journalists.

Hamnawa said the committee had received similar complaints from journalists in the past, urging officials to provide reporters with in-time information.

mds/ma

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