‘Media must not let people forget Sialkot lynching trial’

Protest planned by citizens coming together on Facebook.

LAHORE:

The media need to keep following up on the trial in Sialkot lynching case to ensure that people remain updated it and justice is done, journalist-turned-teacher Zara Zamir said on Thursday.

She was one of the protestors at the Liberty roundabout demonstrating against the lack of media attention and “unnecessary adjournments” in the trial of those accused of lynching Munib Rahman and Mughees Rahman.

She said she felt that the media had been preoccupied with the killing of Osama bin Laden and forgotten the lynching incident altogether.

She said organising the protest on May 5 had symbolic value. “It is Mughees’s birthday.19th had he been alive,” said Zamir.

Zamir said that Sialkot lynching was her first report as a journalist. She said she was drawn closer to the affected family during her interaction with them while reporting and following up on the incident.

She praised the family for the courage it showed following the death of the children. She said she had made 20 posters and along with the deceased brothers’ paternal uncle, who had arranged special t-shirts for the occasion, distributed them among the people who had committed to show up for the protest.

Several people stopped their cars for some time at the roundabout. They would read the messages written on the posters the group was holding and drive away.

“At the last protest some people had parked their cars and joined us,” said Zamir. She said with the clouds darkening overhead, she didn’t expect such company on Thursday.

At least 20 people showed up to attend the protest. These included journalists, lawyers, teachers and corporate professionals. The protestors said they had come together on the Facebook page titled ‘Justice for Mughees and Muneeb’. They said the page had 73,905 fans.

Marium, a lawyer, said social media had made it easier to plan protests but she feared people had started losing interest in issues more quickly. She said she had been at the forefront of the lawyers’ movement a few years ago. “It’s become fashionable to be politically active and attend protests these days,” she said. She added that there was a need to ensure that people maintain their interest in important issues so that culprits could be held accountable.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2011.