Journalists barred from Lal Masjid

ISLAMABAD: Lal Masjid deputy chief cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi invited reporters to a press conference in Lal Masjid on Sunday, but security forces refused entry to journalists and later, ARY Television reported, entered the Rawalpindi-Islamabad press club and harassed the journalists there. Ghazi had invited journalists for a press conference, pledging safe passage, but security forces believed it was a tactic to gain more hostages and thus did not allow reporters to enter the mosque. Ghazi was offered a telephonic press conference instead. Security personnel on Sunday evening accused journalists of violating curfew and told them they had been ordered to oust journalists from the danger zone, but an army major said it had been a misunderstanding, adding there were no orders to stop media coverage, the channel reported. daily times monitor