Mariana Babar, a correspondent of the English-language daily, The News, was hurt when police hit her with a steel-tipped baton, said Abdul Hamid Shaphara, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.

More than 100 journalists and newspapers workers, shouting anti-government slogans, accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of trying to curb press freedom through a series of ``harsh steps'' against the Jang Group of Newspapers, owner of the largest circulation Urdu-language paper, the Jang as well as The News.

The newspaper group owns several publications. The government charges that the newspaper owner has evaded both Customs and Income Tax, a charge the owner, Shakil-ur-Rehman, denies.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto denounced the government attack on journalists saying, ``It is a shame that the regimehas stooped so low and does not spare even women journalists.''

She said the government wanted to ``stifle dissent, cover its misdeeds and corruption... If today the Jang group is allowed to go down, then tomorrow it will be the turn of other newspapers.''

In a letter to Sharif, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was shocked by the tactics his administration was using to harass and intimidate the Jang group. ``The CPJ is outraged by your government's blatant attempts to control the independent media in Pakistan.''