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January 13, 2008
Pakistan Deports US Scribe for Taliban Story
By Parveen Chopra

New York
A freelance US journalist has been deported from Pakistan, most likely for reporting on Taliban activities in parts of the country.

Nicholas Schmidle, whose latest piece "Next-Gen Taliban" appeared in the Jan 6 issue of The New York Times Magazine, has been forced to leave Friday from Pakistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

CPJ's press release quoted NYT Magazine editor Scott Malcolmson as saying the local police gave Schmidle a deportation order. While the order was dated Dec 29, the magazine believes it was backdated but officials issued it after the article ran in the magazine.

Schmidle regularly freelances for The New Republic, Slate and other publications.

"I have yet to hear the Pakistani side in this, but if this is a sign that journalists will be subject to reprisals for reporting honestly on conditions in Pakistan, that is cause for serious concern," Gerald Marzorati, editor of the NYT Magazine, told CPJ.

The influential online news website Huffington Post has speculated that the Pakistani authorities acted because Schmidle "conducted interviews in Quetta where the Taliban are operating in full public".

"Pakistan government authorities want to limit exposure to the fact that they have done nothing to shut down the Taliban in Quetta," the Post said.

Having spent 16 months in Pakistan, Schmidle is on his way back to the US.

He has reported from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Central Asia and Iran. In June 2005, he was awarded a fellowship by the Washignton based Institute of Current World Affairs to spend two years studying and writing about Pakistan. 

January 13, 2008 

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