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Pak Supreme Court allows Najam Sethi's family to visit him

More than one week after the police arrested prominent journalist Najam Sethi, the Supreme Court today ordered the authorities to allow his family and lawyers to see him.

Sethi was taken from his home in the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore in the early morning hours of May 8. The authorities say Sethi is being investigated for alleged connections to India's intelligence agency, RAW or Research and Analysis Wing.

His wife, Jugnoo Mohsin, co-owner with her husband of the English-language weekly The Friday Times, says Sethi was arrested because of his relentless battle against government corruption.

''On the 10th day after the arrest of Najam Sethi the government still has no case against him, no case at all,'' she said. ''They have just violated a citizen's home and abducted him.''

Several other journalists were detained by Pakistan's investigation agencies. The vehicle of one journalist Imtiaz Alam, who works for the independent English-language newspaper, The News, was set on fire by two men believed to be members of the intelligence agency. Alam had organized a demonstration to protest the detention of a fellow journalist who was later released.

Mohsin said she will visit her husband later today, although it wasn't immediately clear where he was being held.

''I am worried about him, but my husband is a brave man,'' she said following the Supreme Court decision to let her visit him.

UNI

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