Demos slate attack on The News reporter Noorani

LAHORE: Journalists, political workers and civil society activists staged demonstrations against an attack on The News senior reporter Ahmed Noorani in various cities on Sunday. They demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. 

The Life Members Forum (LMF) of the Lahore Press Club set up a protest camp. Addressing the gathering, LMF Chairman Imtiaz Rashid, Allama Siddique Azhar, Israr Bokhari and Zameer Afaqi demanded that the government immediately arrest those who attacked Noorani. They prayed for early recovery of Noorani. 

In Gujranwala, PML-N senior leader Ghulam Dastgir Khan said the attack on Noorani was a cowardly act. He asked Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal to probe the matter and punish the responsible. Talking to party workers at his residence, he said the PML-N government believed in freedom of expression. He said those who attacked Noorani expressed their difference of opinion through violence that was not acceptable in any society. 

In Jhelum, PPP leaders Khawaja Asif Javed and Tariq Naseem Butt condemned the attack. They also demanded punishment for those involved in the attack. 

In Arifwala, journalists staged a demonstration at Fawara Chowk. The demonstration was led by Press Club President M Inam Butt and General Secretary Rana M Shaukat.

During his address, The News correspondent Khan Imtiaz Ali Khan said the assault on Ahmed Noorani was not an attack on an individual but an attack on independence of journalism.

Local journalists including Allama Anees Ahmed Butt, Mirza Imtiaz Ahmed, Sajid Mehmood Sheikh, Maqsood Ahmed Dola, Dr Allah Rakha, Malik M Shafique, Rana Asif Amin, Nadeem Akhtar, Mudassar Saeed, Ch M Iqbal, Farhan Talab, M Nawaz Bhatti, Chaudhry Sajid, Rana M Irfan and Javed Ahmed Khan participated in the demonstration. They chanted slogans against the culprits and demanded their immediate arrest. Rana Shaukat prayed for early recovery of Noorani.