Attack on press club: Journalists stage protest, demand arrest of PML-N workers

31 persons, including seven nominated PML-N workers, booked.


Our Correspondent October 03, 2012

MIRPUR:


Journalists staged protest rallies across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday over ransacking of the Central Press Club Muzaffarabad and thrashing of media persons by workers of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N).


Major protest rallies were held in Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, Kotli, Bhimbher and Bagh, in which journalists expressed resentment over the incident and termed it an attack on the freedom of the press. They demanded the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government to arrest the accused within 24 hours.

PML-N workers reportedly attacked the Central Press Club on Monday evening after reports were published in various Urdu newspapers against a senior party worker. They allegedly thrashed journalists and burnt copies of the Urdu dailies, one Rawalpindi-based and two local, in which the reports were published.

Muzaffarabad police booked 31 persons including seven nominated PML-N workers; however, no arrests have yet been made so far, a police official told The Express Tribune.

In Mirpur, members of Kashmir Press Club staged a rally outside the press club building and marched on all major roads raising slogans against the AJK chapter of PML-N. Mirpur District Bar Association President Arshad Mahmood Mallick, local businessmen, social and human rights activists joined in the rally to express solidarity with the journalists.

Addressing a meeting at the Central Press Club auditorium, senior journalists including the club’s president Syed Abid Hussain Shah decided to boycott all functions and press conferences of PML-N. They also declared that till the accused are arrested, they will wear black bands on their arms to mark their indignation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2012. 

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