Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar condemns attack on Express

PM directed Nisar and me to discuss security measures for journalists: says Information Minister Pervez Rashid.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan strongly condemned yesterday's attack on Express Media Group which left three staff members dead and another injured.

Nisar said that a meeting will be held within the next few days to discuss how security can be given to the media.

We will take the provinces into confidence to ensure that security is provided, the minister told the press in Islamabad.

'Victims were peaceful people'

"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed me and Chaudhry Nisar to discuss security measures to be taken for protection of journalists with their representative organisations," Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid said, while speaking to Express News.

Speaking at the Express News studio, Rashid also expressed his condolences for the loss to the staff and emphasised that the victims of the attack were peace-loving, innocent people.

The information minister stated that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Syed Munawar Hasan should ask the culprits of the attack what the sins of the targeted staffers were.

Rashid requested the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) not to attack media, mosques and hospitals.

Attack on Express

On January 17, gunmen riding on motorcycles shot dead Express News technician, security guard and a driver after ambushing a stationary DSNG van in Karachi.

This was the third and most lethal strike on Express Media Group and its staff in the space of five months. In two previous attacks, the main offices of the media group, were targeted.

The TTP claimed responsibility for the latest attack in a live telephone call from Afghanistan to Express News anchor Javed Chaudhry.

Post 9/11 Pakistan

Nisar said that Pakistanis had borne the brunt of the entire fallout of the 9/11 attack in New York even though none of the alleged perpetrators of that crime originated from Pakistan.

While the world has become a safer place, Pakistan has become more dangerous, Nisar stated, speaking at the passing-out parade of the police in Islamabad.

He added that “there is not enough understanding in the international community of how unsafe Pakistan has become.”