Press Trust of India Posted online: Friday, March 16, 2007 at 2100 hours IST
Islamabad, March 16: Condemning the police raid on Pakistan's private Geo TV as an act of "sabotage" against his government, President Pervez Musharraf has apologised to the channel and said the culprits will be identified tonight and punished.
In a telephonic interview with senior editor of Geo TV Hamid Mir, Musharraf, who was in Lahore when the attack on the studio took place this afternoon, said "it is a very regrettable incident. It is very unfortunate incident. I condemn it in strongest terms."
He ordered the government to pay compensation to the channel immediately for damage caused during the raid.
He said the police action is a violation of the reform process initiated by him in the fields of freedom of speech, free media and human rights.
"This is a big attack. I apologise it should not happen," Musharraf said and referred to physical attack against Mir also.
"Whatever happened it is wrong. Culprits must be identified and punished today. They should be punished tonight," he said.
When pointed out that the attack was carried out by the Punjab Province police and not the capital police and whether it pointed to any suspicion, Musharraf said "we have to see it. It is premature to comment."
Mir said all those who took part in the attack were not part of Islamabad police but came from Punjab. "At the end of the operation they raised slogans 'Punjab police zindabad' and an Inspector was seen reporting to some one about the incident over the mobile," Mir said.
"Whatever it is, we have to find out why it happened. In my view it is a sabotage and I would say this is a sabotage to whatever we stand for or whatever we are doing. I condemn it and action should be taken immediately," Musharraf said.
Asked whether any big personalities were involved, he said, "I will see. I said it immediately. We need to take action. What action should be taken, I will personally get
involved. Whatever damages, compensation has to be paid immediately. I have given the instruction," he said.
The offices of The News, an English language-daily, and the Urdu-language Jang, which are both part of the same media group as Geo, were also damaged in police raids, Mir said.
