Author: Zahid Hussain
Publication: The Times
Date: July 26, 2008
URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4402382.ece
Letter from Taleban orders journalist to repent
A newspaper editor has received death threats
from militant groups for publishing a cartoon of a radical woman Islamic leader
encouraging her pupils to wage holy war.
Najam Sethi, chief editor of the Daily Times,
one of Pakistan's most respected English language newspapers and its sister
paper Daily Aaj Kal, now moves under heavy security after ultra-conservative
Islamic elements warned him of serious consequences if he did not repent.
His house in Lahore is now guarded by six army commandos.
The threats were provoked by the publication
of a cartoon in Aaj Kal depicting Umme Hassan, principal of a radical women's
madrassa, in a veil "educating" female students to wage jihad and
embrace martyrdom.
Ms Hassan is the wife of Abdul Aziz, the prayer
leader of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, who was jailed after the mosque was
stormed by Pakistani troops last year. The madrassa she headed was demolished
in the operation in which more than 100 people, including 11 soldiers, were
killed. Addressing a rally on the anniversary of the Red Mosque raid in Islamabad
last week, Ms Hassan declared that the cartoon was blasphemous, equating it
with Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Other clerics of the Red Mosque argued that
since Ms Hassan was teaching the Koran to her students in the mosque, any
attempt to belittle her was blasphemous.
After the rally, anonymous callers threatened
staff in the paper's Islamabad offices. Security officials said that the threat
was serious as soldiers involved in the raid on the Red Mosque had been the
target of suicide attacks.
"The spate of threats by the Red Mosque
leaders was particularly worrying given their well-documented record of similar
actions in the past," a senior official said.
Mr Sethi, who received the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom award in 1999, has been an outspoken
critic of Islamic extremism. AntiTaleban articles published in his papers
have provoked strong reactions from militants. "By accusing the paper
of blaspheming and including me in the category of antiIslamic elements the
clerics have provoked people to kill me and my staff," Mr Sethi said.
A letter posted by the Islamic Taleban Movement
warned him to repent of his sins and change his editorial policy, or else
he would be killed. A picture of a murdered Pakistani, who allegedly worked
for the Americans, was attached. "It is our Islamic duty to warn Muslims
who have gone astray to repent and come to a right path," the note said.
"Otherwise you would meet the fate of other nonbelievers."
Islamic militants have often used threats
to intimidate Pakistan's media. At least four journalists are believed to
have been killed by militants in lawless tribal areas for reporting al-Qaeda's
activities in the past few years.
Mr Sethi has rejected the suggestion by authorities
to stay out of the country until the situation is calmer.
"Extremists have always used coercion
to silence their critics and that is exactly what is happening now,"
he said. "This is a battle that media and country cannot afford to loose."
