New Delhi, Jan 16: Terming the seven-month imprisonment of journalist Iftikar Gilani as "wholly unjustifiable", National Union of Journalists today urged Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani to set up a high level clearing mechanism where action against journalists for alleged anti-national activities can come up for hearing. "The government was forced to withdraw the charges of securing confidential information against Gilani after the directorate of military intelligence confirmed the documents seized from him were of no military significance," a NUJ statement said here today.
"The officials who arrested Gilani were prejudiced by his connections with an opposition figure in Jammu and Kashmir and could have easily verified the facts before arresting him," it said.
The NUJ also demanded an apology from the government in the Gilani case. Bureau Report