QUETTA, Sep 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): An Afghan journalist was arrested and later released by Pakistani security agencies on Chaman - Spin Boldak border crossing on Thursday.
Ghousuddin Firoten, an Afghan national and correspondent of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained by intelligence officials as he crossed into Pakistan on Thursday morning.
The intelligence officials grilled him for three hours and was set free around 11am the same day. The journalist was arrested despite having all the legal documents. He was later released with the help of Deutche Welle correspondent Abdul Raziq Barq.
Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, Firoten said he had presented the passport and valid visa and introduced himself as a journalist. However, the security officials charged him of working for Afghan intelligence agencies.
He said after being questioned for three hours, the intelligence officials released him on the intervention of his colleague and another correspondent of a foreign radio station.
Condemning the detention of the Afghan journalist, Ahmad Ali Babak, Consul-General of Afghan Consulate in Quetta, asked the Pakistani authorities to treat the journalist in accordance with the international laws.
Babak said he had raised the issue with the provincial governor and other Pakistani authorities from time to time and would discuss it in future as well. He said Pakistani journalists were freely performing their duties in Afghanistan and Afghan journalists should also be given similar treatment.
Meanwhile, Afghan journalists in Pakistan have also condemned the detention of Ghousuddin Firoten and demanded of the Afghan government to raise the issue with Pakistani authorities.
Editor of the TolAfghan.com Pashto Website Mujeebur Rahman Angar in Peshawar asked journalists in Afghanistan to raise their voice for their brothers working in Pakistan.
