Minutes after the story of the shoe-throwing at Zardari was aired authorities in all main cities blocked GEO TV and on Sunday morning set ablaze offices of GEO, Jang and The News dailies.
Newspaper hawkers were robbed of bundles of newspapers at gunpoint. Sindh police confiscated bundles of Jang and The News in Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkar and some other towns.
Shoe-thrower Shamim Khan was arrested by Birmingham police but was later freed without any charges.
He told media after his release: “When Pakistan is drowned by floods Zardari is spending millions of pounds at the cost of Pakistani taxpayers.
“His meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron earned national disgrace to Pakistan. I was determined to beat Zardari with my shoes.” While Zardari and his team could do nothing in the UK their vengeance was transferred to Pakistan’s leading newspaper house.
President’s spokesman initially denied the incident but later simply said, “I did not see any unpleasant incident.”
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira too denied the incident of shoe throwing but later changing his statement said: “We will hold an inquiry.”
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalist condemned official acts and termed them “yet another attempt to strangulate freedom of press.”
