His Excellency General Pervez Musharraf

President and Chief Executive of Pakistan

E-mail: CE@pak.gov.pk

30 January 2004

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our outrage at the murder of journalist Sajid Tanoli.

According to reports, on 29 January Mr Tanoli, a reporter for the Urdu-language daily Shumaal, was shot five times allegedly by Khalid Javed, a lawyer and mayor of Mansehra, in theNorth-West Frontier Province. Mr Javed was named in a 26 January report by Mr Tanoli on illegal alcohol trafficking. Mr Javed filed a complaint against the paper, demanding more than 200,000 euros in damages if it did not publish an apology. Mr Javed reportedly fled after the shooting, but police arrested his brother and son, who were suspected of being accomplices to the murder.

We respectfully call on you to take all necessary steps to ensure that Mr Javed is swiftly arrested and brought to justice. We urge you to do everything possible to create an environment in which journalist are able to carry out their duties without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Seok Hyun Hong

President

World Association of Newspapers

Gloria Brown Anderson

President

World Editors Forum

cc : Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations

Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO