PFUJ to continue protest against journalist’s murder

KARACHI: Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has decided to continue its protest movement against the murder of journalist Jan Mohammad Mehr and give a call for countrywide protest rallies and demonstration today (Monday).

In Karachi, journalists from all over Sindh would gather at Karachi Press Club for a rally to the CM House at 3pm to register their protest against the failure of the authorities to arrest the main culprit even after three months.

“What we want is result and not mere assurance,” PFUJ Action Committee, Sindh, said in a press statement.

The committee, which met at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday and Sunday, deliberated on the details of the meeting with Caretaker Chief Minister, Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar.

Home Minister, Sindh Brig (r) Haris Nawaz, Law Minister, Barrister Qasim Somroo, IGP, Sindh, Raffat Mukhtar and other senior police officers gave the committee a detailed briefing on the difficulties they were facing in arresting the main accused. They sought at least two to four weeks as the main suspect was hiding in the riverine area.

The action committee thanked the chief minister and others for providing the update and progress in the case but said the journalists in Sindh, keeping in view the failure of the successive governments in tracing the killers of journalists martyred in the last few years, want result and cannot abandon their protest till the arrest of the accused and fair and speedy trial.

The chief minister assured PFUJ leadership that he had already sought assistance from the rangers and other law enforcement agencies for the immediate arrest, but added that they delayed operation at times because the accused often used women and children as human shield. The CM said he did not want loss of innocent people, including women and children, during the operation.

The PFUJ committee, in its meeting at the press club, was of the view that “death of one journalist is a message for the other journalists”, and said that unless journalist’s killers and assailants are arrested and punished, crime against journalists would continue to rise as justice has neither been done nor seen to be done in the past.

The committee also demanded justice for journalists Aziz Memon, Nazim Jockio and others in Sindh and across Pakistan.

The action committee in its meeting unanimously decided that a big rally would proceed from the Karachi Press Club at 3 PM and would stage a token protest outside the CM House. The committee thanked the APNS, CPNE, PBA, Sindh High Court Bar Association, Karachi Bar Association, senior lawyers for their support and assurance, trade union leaders, civil society, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for their support and assurance for their participation in the rally.

The PFUJ leaders would announce their future course of action at the end of the rally. The action committee will meet immediately after the rally at the KPC and consult with other PFUJ affiliated bodies about the next action plan.

The PFUJ’s Federal Executive Committee (FEC) in its meeting held at Abbottabad from November 3 to 5 had decided to stage a countrywide protest against the murder of Jan Mohammad Mehr. The FEC also constituted the action committee in Sindh under the chairmanship of PFUJ former secretary general, Mazhar Abbas.