Journalists stage walkout from press gallery

PESHAWAR: Journalists in the press gallery of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday staged a walkout as a protest against the murder of a colleague in Haripur district and demanded the early arrest of the killers.

The journalists walked out from the assembly to lodge the protest over the killing of Sohail Khan in Haripur and harassment of other newspersons in the country.

However, they returned to the press gallery when Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan and Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Abdul Karim assured them of bringing the culprits to justice.

Members from the treasury and opposition benches also condemned the murder of journalist and called for protection to the media persons.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, while assuring early arrest of the culprits, ruled the inspector general of police (IGP) should submit a report about the inquiry into the incident within 24 hours.