Re: Someone on Hit List:Dr.Shahid Masood
**PM takes note of menacing calls to Rauf Klasra’s spouse
**
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has taken a serious note of threatening calls made to the spouse of Rauf Klasra, special correspondent of The News, officials and members of the journalist family said on Tuesday.
The prime minister directed the Islamabad police chief to immediately provide security to members of the journalist family, who is presently in Dhaka to cover the Bangladesh general election.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Asghar Raza Gardezi contacted the reporter’s wife to get details of the threatening calls made to her in the absence of her husband. After the publication of a story in The News on Monday about the threats made to Rauf Klasra’s family, Gilani tried to contact his wife to speak to her personally on the threatening phone calls.
However, the Prime Minister’s House could not reach Klasra’s wife, who had gone to her parental house to stay there in the absence of her husband and in the wake of the menacing calls.
Consequently, the prime minister assigned the Islamabad IGP with contacting the journalist’s spouse and providing her all possible security. The Islamabad police chief talked to Klasra’s wife and offered her safety.
Mrs Klasra informed the IGP that she was with her parents and did not need any security. Asghar Raza Gardezi assured her of all-out assistance and security, if needed at any stage. But the offer was politely declined by the family of Klasra.
Meanwhile, Mrs Klasra thanked the prime minister for evincing a personal interest in investigating the threatening calls made to her from a “private number” and directing the police chief to help her.
Earlier, Mrs Klasra received the intimidating calls on her mobile phone from a private number, usually used by secret agencies. The unknown caller told her that “**her husband was a corrupt journalist and they had all the data available with them”. **
The call set alarm bells ringing for Klasra’s family, who feared he was being chased and might face dangers at the hands of the forces irked by his stories in **The News and columns in Jang. **In his statement, Klasra pointed the finger at a Lahore-based sleuth. He claimed that an intelligence official was behind the threatening calls made to his wife in his absence from the country.
He alleged the spy agent, who previously worked for the FIA, had been assigned to malign journalists. The operative was reinstated to his position after a suspension of 12 years, with all perks and privileges.
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