Media is as duty-bound to be ethical and responsible as the issues and people it reports about, but every now and then mediapersons cave in to the ratings pressure and sensationalise news. So was the case on January 21 when a story of plainclothesmen picking up two unsuspecting tennis players and bikers turned into a gripping hours-long saga of the arrest of "two terrorists" as the media relied on what seem to be misleading tips. The affair severely dented the image and credibility of media and journalists but even more remorseful is the fact that media houses have been slow in retracting the story and offering an apology. Last Saturday, mediapersons were tipped about the arrest of two 'terrorists' from Shakarparian and how the police had cordoned off the area to hunt for their accomplices. The reality was anything but this. The police had, in fact, cordoned off the area to search for two young men – AM and his cousin KJ – who had allegedly been kidnapped and detained in the area. The kidnapping was reported to the police by AM's mother NM, who owns a chain of private schools.

Mrs NM told the police that her son and his cousin were returning from the Pakistan Tennis Federation Academy after playing tennis when some unidentified persons intercepted them in Garden Road, which is in the vicinity of the high-security Army Aviation Heliport, which is used for VVIP and VIP movement and is monitored by personnel of the army and Frontier Constabulary.

Her son had managed to call her and inform her that unidentified men were trying to kidnap them. She rushed to the spot and saw plain clothes civilians dragging the two into a Shehzore truck. She chased the truck which entered an area where the Frontier Work Organisation (FWO) is doing construction.

Mrs NM then called senior police officers, who dispatched a heavy contingent of police – this included police mobiles from the Aabpara, Industrial Area, Shahzad Town and Secretariat police stations along with the Anti-Terrorist Squad. On arrival, they cordoned off the area and combed it but failed to locate the two boys.

On the information obtained from Mrs NM, the police in the end went to the construction site of the FWO. The police found the main gate locked from inside and security personnel guarding it. The police inquired about the two persons but the personnel refused to give any information about them, and denied them entry inside.

In the meanwhile, the media also arrived on the spot and started reporting about the arrest of two terrorists. It's still unclear how they arrived at that conclusion as the law enforcement agencies did not utter the words arrest and terrorist together in any statement. The only concern of the law-enforcement agencies was tracing the two boys and confirming whether the persons detained inside the FWO's premises were AM and KJ or someone else.

A little while later, a colonel arrived on the spot and called the police officers inside. There they were told that the two were found acting suspiciously near the asphalt plant and aviation area, which is a sensitive area, and were taken for verification.

The police officers gave an assurance that the two boys belong to a noble family and have good characters, and the two were handed over to the police for further verification and the procedure was also documented.

At the Aabpara police station, their statements were recorded and they were allowed to leave.

AM and his cousin KJ in their statement told the police that they were returning in a car from the Pakistan Tennis Federation Academy, when they came across a heap of sand at Garden Road. Being bike riders and into stunts, the heap attracted them. They parked the car on the kerb and disembarked from the vehicle and came over at the heap to see if it was worth performing stunts on the coming Sunday.

However, a man in civilian clothes approached them and asked for their identification and CNIC. In response, AM showed him his CNIC which he seized and refused to give back. As a result, they got into an argument and AM asked for his identification. In the meanwhile, more plainclothes arrived and overpowered them. By then, AM had managed to place a call to his mother.

It is worth mentioning that Mrs NM in her statement said the colonel made the police sign a document before agreeing to hand over her son and nephew.

"The document stated that my son and nephew were 'terrorists," she said in the statement."It is a matter of huge shame that innocent civilians are harassed and berated in such a violent and unacceptable manner," she further stated.

While the security personnel might be justified to ask for identification of the two persons and later took them for verification, the hasty trial by media to declare them 'terrorists' was not.