New York: Sharply criticizing the Pakistan Government for its "assaults" on the freedom of press since President Pervez Musharraf took office, the Human Rights Watch has demanded immediate release of the two French journalists, who were arrested for violating Visa restrictions.

"These arrests and the possible criminal charges (on them) mark a new low in the growing assault on press freedom in Pakistan," Brad Adams, Executive Director of Asia Division of the New York-based rights watchdog, said yesterday (Dec 22, 2003).

Journalists Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau and their local assistant Khawar Mehdi Rizivi were arrested in Pakistan on December 16 for violating Visa conditions by visiting the southwestern city of Quetta near the Afghanistan border.

Since Pervez Musharraf's 1999 coup, Pakistan Government has sought to, and in several cases succeeded in, removing independent journalists from prominent publications, the rights watchdog said.

"Foreign journalists have now fallen victim to the same tactics of intimidation and harassment that the Pakistani Government often uses against the local press," Adams said.

"Musharraf should break with this pattern and demonstrate a commitment to genuine press freedom by releasing these journalists and their Pakistani assistant and by ordering an end to Government coercion and intimidation of the media," he said.