Social media backlash: Journalist attacked, injured

Journalist attacked for speaking out against a MPA

ABBOTTABAD: A local journalist from Kohistan was attacked and injured on Tuesday outside his office in Komela Bazaar. The three attackers were a police constable and his relatives, the complainant told.

Shamsur Rehman Shams said that a few days back, he uploaded a tender notice for different development schemes with a comment that the PML-N MPA from PK 63 Kohistan has favoured his supporters, and that the provincial government should avoid publishing the slogan of “say no to corruption” with its official advertisements if it allows this to happen. Shams said the MPA got infuriated and allegedly told his supporters to teach him a lesson.

Shams, who is also the Kohistan Union of Journalists general secretary, said that when he was standing outside his office on Tuesday morning when Constable Yousuf of Maalkhana Dasu Police Station came with two other men. They were all armed with clubs.

The attackers, he said, first verbally abused him and demanded to know that why he levelled allegations against the MPA, before thrashing him with the clubs. The attackers, however, fled the scene when area people rushed to Shams rescue.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2017.