The journalist, Omar Cheema of The News, told Dawn he suspected that an intelligence agency was behind the episode.

Two vehicles, a Land Cruiser and a Toyota Corolla, intercepted him near Kachnar Park in I-8/3 at 3.30 in the morning, he said, adding that 12 men got off the vehicles and surrounded him.

They alleged that he (Cheema) had hit and killed a man at Zero Point and ran away from the spot. Later, he was handcuffed, blindfolded and dragged to one of the vehicles.

Mr Cheema said the men took him to a house, at a distance of 30-45 minutes drive from the park. He said he was stripped and forcibly laid down on the floor. The abductors subjected him to torture and shaved his head.

“You are filing anti-government stories. What is your agenda? You are working for a lobby which favoured martial law,” Mr Cheema quoted the abductors as saying.

After an hour of torture, he said, the abductors again handcuffed and blindfolded and took him to Talagang where he was released along with his vehicle.

“The abductors remained covered, but their style of operation suggested that they were personnel of intelligence agency,” Mr Cheema added. “I have been receiving threats and some friends have also informed me that my phone is being tapped,” he said.

The journalist lodged a complaint with the Industrial Area Police Station about the abduction and torture.

Medicolegal of the victim was also conducted and its report was handed over to police. An FIR has been registered.

While meeting with the senior journalists and news editors of the papers on Thursday at the Punjab Governor House, he said that the era of political reconciliation has been started in Pakistan, adding that his government and party will keep this theory intact.

He briefed the journalists that Pakistan is facing terrorism as the biggest challenge to the country. But this menace will be addressed with the help of the nation. He also appreciated the role of Pakistan army in war against terrorism.

President Zardari also briefed the successes of Swat operation. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and minister, Tanveer Ashraf Kaira was also present during the meeting.

The chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Mian Nawaz Sharif, and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif are not present in Lahore during the visit of President Zardari.

It is being discussed that President Zardari has not been given due protocol by PML-N and its leaderships that shows that rifts may rise in coming days.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the visits of Sharif brothers were already scheduled. But the leaders of PPP consider their absence as some sorts of conspiracies against President Zardari and his government.

Shujaat outlined his party’s four-point 2010 Vision based on the philosophy of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Shujaat said the PPP was in confrontation with the judiciary while the PML-N was disturbing the political atmosphere in the Punjab. Referring to the NRO, Shujaat once again changed his stance, saying that he had disapproved the final draft of the NRO. “When I and Mushahid saw the final draft of the NRO, we opposed it. However, we were told that General Musharraf and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had reached an agreement. So I said the tenure of the PML-Q government should be excluded from the NRO,” he added.

He said his visit to Sindh was successful and the people had amassed in large numbers to welcome the PML-Q leaders. “We were amazed to see huge crowds in Larkana. We were not expecting such huge crowds in Sindh,” he added.S M Zafar voiced against the targeted killings in Balochistan, especially Quetta, saying the party should raise this issue at all forums. “This is sheer injustice and we should condemn this negative trend,” he said.

‘It was a suicide bombing,’ city police chief Liaquat Ali Khan told reporters.Remains of the bomber and a constable guarding the entrance were scattered along the driveway to the basement of the club and police searched for forensic evidences in the shattered windowpanes.

According to witnesses, the teenage bomber of fair complexion and sporting long hair exploded himself when police guard Riazuddin Khan tried to search him.‘You want to search? Okay, search,’ a witness quoted the bomber as saying. ‘And then there was the explosion,’ Minhaj, an employee of the district security department said. He was among those injured by ball bearings and shrapnels.

According to a bomb disposal expert, the weight of the explosives used by the bomber was about 8kgs. ‘It is more than what they normally use in suicide bombings,’ Khurshid Khan said. Another witness said the bomber wearing black clothes and a jacket was heard arguing with the guard, insisting that he be allowed to enter the club.

Those killed in the attack are Head Constable Riazuddin Khan, passerby Robina Shaheen and the club’s accountant Mian Iqbal.Riaz had been guarding the club’s entrance for three years because journalists believed he recognised all members.The blast took place at 11.40am when dozens of journalists were sitting in the lawn behind the main building and others in the library, cafeteria and net cafe.

Peshawar Press Club’s president Shamim Shahid said intelligence and police officials had warned the administration of a possible attack. ‘We had taken all possible steps but there is no way to stop a suicide bomber coming to explode himself.’

He said the club had stopped allowing political gatherings on its premises for security reasons.

The club has announced three days of mourning. The injured people were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital. Five of the injured were in a serious condition, a hospital official said.

The city police chief said the policeman’s death proved that security had been tightened at all sensitive places.

He said the number of casualties would have been much higher had the bomber succeeded in entering the building.

NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti condemned the attack and expressed sympathy with journalists.

He visited the club and ordered an immediate probe. He said sacrifices rendered by security personnel and journalists in the war against terrorists would not go waste.

He said the media had played a critical role in unveiling plots hatched to weaken the state and terrorists’ evil designs.

Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, NWFP Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Chagharmatti, Sports Minister Syed Aqil Shah, Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak and MPAs of different parties also visited the club and condemned the blast.

The US consulate in Peshawar also condemned the bombing. The administration of the press club blamed militants for the blast and vowed that they would continue to expose the terrorists who were killing innocent people in the country.

‘The mid-day suicide attack on the Peshawar Press Club is a manifestation of the militants’ threats being hurled at the journalist community over the past two years,’ president of the club Shamim Shahid said.

He paid tribute to the slain policeman. He said the attack was similar to those taking place across the country.

‘We aren’t scared of such attacks and won’t change our course. The militants want journalists to stop writing about their wrongdoings, but we will continue to show their real picture to the people,’ he said.

Mr Shahid said no-one could deny anyone the right to freedom of expression. He said people knew the militants were doing a disservice to Islam and Muslims.

PPC’s general secretary Mohammad Ali Khan said there would be no activity at the club for three days in protest against the attack. He said the incident had strengthened the resolve of local journalists.

The popular talk show host also disclosed that he had received serious life threats from PPP leaders who had told him to come to Pakistan and conduct his programme from this country and then “we will see you”.In an exact replay of the Musharraf era, the use of influence and pressure on a foreign government by the president of Pakistan is a direct attack on the freedom of the press in Pakistan, the Geo TV management said in a statement on Monday night.

It announced that the programme will still be telecast from a different location, as was done on Monday night.The management of Geo TV condemned the action of the Pakistani authorities to use the influence of a foreign government to deny freedom of expression and the Press.Monday night’s programme of Dr Shahid Masood featured Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai and Editor Investigations of The News Ansar Abbasi, who condemned the action, and with one voice declared that the action would not force Geo TV to succumb to government pressure.

Shaheen Sehbai expressed shock and regret and said the action showed that the PPP leaders had pushed the panic button in desperation otherwise there was no reason why they could not tolerate the voice of any journalist or any TV talk show host.Sehbai said the action by the PPP rulers was a direct negation of democracy and freedom of speech and would be resisted by all democracy and freedom loving people in Pakistan and round the world. In today’s world of instant communications, Internet, U-Tube, SMS, emails, Twitter and private phone-videos, such a ban was nothing but sheer stupidity.

Journalist Ansar Abbasi said the journalists community had fought similar bans throughout their careers, specially under dictators, and they had always won and they will again win this time. But he said the regrettable part was that the curbs had been imposed by a government which called itself democratically elected.Dr Shahid Masood in his statement revealed that he had been receiving threats to his life and the banning of his show in Dubai was a clear proof of the desperation and panic in the government.

He, however, expressed his determination to continue speaking the truth and exposing the corruption and wrongdoings of the government, without fear.Geo TV has always raised issues of public importance and had been in the vanguard of the movement for the restoration of the judges, against corruption of public money and for democracy and rule of law.These issues had resulted in a similar ban imposed by the former dictator General Musharraf for three months after the imposition of the Nov 3 emergency but Geo TV and its journalists and TV hosts stood their ground and finally saw the dictator disappear into the dustbin of history.

The government action against Geo TV programme was immediately condemned by a wide spectrum of political leaders, media organisations and human rights bodies. Spokesman of the PML-N Ahsan Iqbal said it was an attack on the democratic freedom guaranteed under the Constitution and his party strongly condemned it. Chairman of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission Iqbal Haider called it a crude attack on all democratic norms and a violation of constitution which will be fought with full force.

Monday’s incident occurred at an event organised by the PML-N to mark the anniversary of the Oct 12, 1999 military coup. There was disagreement between the political workers and the media people on who could enter the premises and how the cameras and mikes should be set up for coverage of the event. Of course, the ugly scuffle could have been avoided had both parties listened to each other and worked out their differences amicably instead of quarrelling and allowing matters to worsen. Unfortunately, it was not to be as media persons were thrashed at the event ironically called the ‘Defence of Democracy Conference’. How is the media expected to do its job in an atmosphere where such arrogance dominates?

This is not to say that the media is blameless. Reporters and cameramen must be rebuked for displaying poor social skills that stand in the way of professionalism. There is a tendency to take for granted the right of entry to an event. Moreover, thoughtlessness is apparent in the way cameras and mikes are set up to obstruct the path of others. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by journalists, owners of media outlets and press associations so that the coverage of events does not inconvenience the general public. More important, however, are measures to curtail this trend of violence. In the current context, the political activists should be taken to task by their party leaders for their reprehensible behaviour.

The Minister said both the media and government have to jointly give an awareness to the masses on all issues and play a constructive role in making the country strong and stable. He directed the Chief Secretary to take steps for solution of the problems being faced by the Gilgit-Baltistan journalist community.

Sources told  that the prime minister was particularly disturbed over the media bashing of Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for his alleged involvement in kickbacks and directed officials of ministries of information and water & power to come up with a proper media strategy to defend the government’s policies.

Faisal Saleh Hayat, the parliamentary leader of PML-Q in the National Assembly, has publicly accused Mr Ashraf of taking kickbacks for contracts for setting up rental power projects.

The issue is being discussed at length by news organisations and the government circles believe the minister has failed to defend his position effectively.

That is why the premier has sought an effective media campaign, according to the sources.

Prime Minister Gilani met Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Water & Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar on Saturday in this regard.

At the meeting it was decided that special sessions would be organised at which reporters and anchors would be briefed about the sugar and power crises.

According to an official statement, the political situation also came under discussion at the meeting. The prime minister directed the ministers to further improve and streamline the functioning of their ministries.

According to reports, a bench comprised of Chief Justice LHC Justice Khawaja Sharif and Justice Ijaz conducting hearing of suo moto case of torture on journalists and police by lawyers.

Large number of lawyers were already present in the court that created rumpus before start of hearing. They chanted slogans against Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif, journalists and police.The lawyers tortured private TV channel’s reporter and cameraman present in the court for the coverage of the hearing.

Later, they reached Bar and harassed other media teams and tried to expel them from the court. The cameras and vehicles also damaged.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) annual report said that South Asia journalists were working in dangerous situation, as they face perils in discharging their duties. Threats to their jobs and lives have been on the increase, while for commercial reasons they were forced to make compromises.

The report said that with the democratic changes in Pakistan, journalists are still facing hurdles in performing their professional responsibilities.

The report has also criticized the governments in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal failing to bring the killers of journalists to justice.

The media launching of the report will be held today in a conference in Katmandu.