Pakistan closes newspaper for publishing head money on Americans
Wed Sep 19 2001 11:09:52 ET
Lahore, Pakistan (dpa) - A Lahore newspaper has been closed and its entire editorial staff arrested for publishing head money for American citizens, official sources said Wednesday.
A story under the headline ``Kill one American, Get Rupees 400,000'' prompted the action against the little known newspaper Punjab Post, according to the sources in the information department of the Punjab province. At the current exchange rate that would make the reward about 6,231 dollars for each American.
The story was based on a press release from a non-descript organisation in Pakistan's tribal territory where the threat of a U.S. attack on bordering Afghanistan has raised anti-American sentiments.
Editor Khalid Mahmood and 15 of his staff were arrested under public safety laws.
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Pakistan seals newspaper that offers reward for death of American
Authorities shut down a newspaper and arrested its editors Wednesday after it published a statement offering a reward to anyone who kills an American, police said.
The Urdu-language newspaper, the Punjab Post, offered 400,000 rupees or dlrs 600,000 to anyone who killed an American. According to the newspaper article, the offer was being made by a radical Sunni Muslim group in Pakistan, but that group denied involvement.
Five people, including the owner, editor and printers of the newspaper were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and advocating terrorism, said police. The newspaper office was sealed, they said.
The reward follows increasing anti-American and anti-Western sentiment in Pakistan because of expectations that the United States is preparing to launch an assault on Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to get Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the terror attacks in New York and Washington last week.
The five men will go on trial on Thursday. They pleaded not guilty Wednesday when they appeared in court.
Pakistan's religious parties have been staging nationwide demonstrations almost daily to protest Pakistan's promise to give ``full support'' to the Untied States to fight terrorism. This promise is said to include allowing a multinational force, led by the United States, use Pakistan's airspace and territory to stage an attack against Afghanistan.
Several western nations, including the United States, have warned their citizens against traveling to Pakistan. Nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy as well as most other Western Embassies are being evacuated from Pakistan along with their families.
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