Media persons taken hostage, attacked by ZBTL staff: Reports

Samaa Tv and DawnNews report that ZBTL employees took their teams hostage during coverage of a raid.

ISLAMABAD: Employees of multiple news channels, including Samaa TV and DawnNews, were taken hostage by the employees of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) at its head office in Islamabad on Wednesday, Samaa TV and DawnNews reported.

The media teams were attacked and taken hostage during coverage of a raid conducted by the Revenue Department’s team. The bank was raided after failure to pay benefits to 5,500 workers amounting to Rs 85 million DawnNews reported.

According to Samaa TV, the security staff at ZBTL closed all doors and threatened media persons outside the building. The employees are also believed to have manhandled hostages, ripping off their clothes and breaking their cameras and mobile phones.

Samaa TV reported that its team was released after the arrival of police contingents who also arrested two security guards at ZBTL.

The report also stated that when Federal Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan visited the site, the police assaulted media persons but did not arrest any culprits involved.

According to DawnNews, their cameraman and reporter were also released after being attacked and their cameras broken.