PFUJ to stage march on 20th against police failure to arrest Jan Mahar’s killers

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has announced it will stage a protest march from the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to the CM House on November 20 against the failure of the police to arrest the killers of journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar.

A Sindh Journalists Action Committee formed to hold the march has been contacting different media associations to invite them to participate in the protest. A delegation, led by the convener of the committee, Mazhar Abbas, met Secretary-General All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) Syed Sarmad Ali in his office to extend the invitation to the APNS members to attend the march.

The APNS secretary-general assured the PFUJ of his fullest support for the march. He also assured the delegation that the matter of the march would be presented in the next meeting of the APNS executive committee.

The committee members under their contact drive also visited the offices of Awaz TV, Sindh TV, KTN and Dharti TV. The committee met the administration, staffers and directors news of the TV channels and invited them to participate in the upcoming march.

PFUJ Vice-President Khursheed Abbasi, Treasurer Lala Asad Phathan, FEC members Khalid Khokhar and Jawed Asghar Chaudhry, President Hyderabad Press Club Lala Rahman Samoon, and former KPC president Imtiaz Khan Faran took part in the contact drive.

Earlier, the Sindh Journalists Action Committee met at the KPC and expressed its serious concern that Mahar’s killers were still at large. The participants of the meeting condemned the Sindh police for allegedly protecting the killers and demanded that the real culprits hiding in the riverine belt of Sindh should be arrested.

The meeting finalised the strategy for conducting the protest march, and decided that the participants would assemble at the KPC at 1pm on the day of the protest. A committee was formed to contact civil society organisations, lawyers’ associations, trade unions, owners of newspapers and TV channels to invite their members to participate in the protest.

The meeting also considered the arrangements to be observed in collaboration with the KPC for facilitating the media persons from all over who would come to Karachi to take part in the agitation.