“Late last evening the police in the BJP-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh arrested a Delhi-based journalist who had gone there to report on recent arrests in the state,” said a Press Alert released by The Milli Gazette on April 7.
The journalist is Mr Nadim Ahmad, a staffer of The Milli Gazette fortnightly English-language newspaper published from Delhi since 2000.
Ahmad was arrested by the police 6 April evening in village Aroda/Choral under Balwada Police Station, Distt Khargone, Indore Range. Contact with Ahmad was possible until late in the evening on his mobile phone (# 09911334768). However, since this morning he is not picking up his phone while Police Inspector Sunil Visthre (mobile # 09926670086), who took Ahmad in custody, is not responding to calls on his mobile, said the press alert.
Enquiries with highest police officials in Indore have failed to help trace the whereabouts of the arrested journalist. The Milli Gazette editor, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, has written in this matter to Mr Shivraj Patil, the Union Home Minister, MP Governor Mr Balram Jhakar, MP Chief Minister Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan, MP home minister Mr. Himmat Kothari, as well as to top police officials in MP state.
Detailing the arrest of the journalist, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor, The Milli Gazette, in a letter sent on 7 April 2008 via fax, email and courier to a number of central and MP state authorities, said: “As of now, my apprehension is that Mr Nadim Ahmad has been arrested and kept under custody at an unknown place for no reason whatsoever as he was only discharging his duties as a journalist to investigate matters of common and media interest. I fear that under the current charged atmosphere in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Ahmad may have been falsely implicated in some matter and illegally deprived of his liberty. I request you to immediately intervene in this matter and ensure the freedom of press guaranteed by our Constitution and laws.”
At the time we are going to the press, the journalist continues to be in police custody.