Killings of Express staffers: Journalists continue to vent anger

Candle vigil at NPC to remember slain workers.

RAWALPINDI: Journalists in Rawalpindi and Murree on Sunday staged protest demonstrations to condemn the killings of Express News staffers.

In Rawalpindi, the demonstration was organised by the Crime and Court Reporters Association Rawalpindi (CRAR) of Rawalpindi.

Holding placards and banners, the journalists took out the rally on Murree Road near Liaquat Bagh and took strong exception to the failure of the government to protect the journalists and other staffers working in media houses.

CRAR President Pir Qaiser Sherazi termed the attack on Express News a blow to the freedom of press. He said that the misguided people by carrying out attacks on media houses could not deter the journalists from telling the truth.

Senior journalist Salah Mughal said that dozens of journalists have been killed in line of the duty, but the government has failed to arrest their killers. He said that Pakistan has become the third-most dangerous country in the world for journalists, which was alarming.

The protesting journalists shouted slogans against the government and in favour of freedom of press.

The Murree Union of Electronic Media, the Murree Press Club and the Murree Union of Journalists also staged a protest demonstration on Mall Road against the killings of Express News staffers. The protest rally was taken out from the Murree Press Club and culminated at the GPO Chowk, where journalists including Aurangzeb Abassi, Qari Shafiqu Rehman Abassi, Imtiazul Haq and others said that the voice of truth could not be stifled through the barrel of gun. They said that the attack was not against one media group but it was on the whole journalist community. They said that the provincial government has completely failed to protect the life and property of the people in Karachi in general and journalists in particular.

Meanwhile, journalists held a candlelight vigil at the National Press Club in the memory of the three Express News staffers who were shot dead in Karachi on Friday.

They expressed their condolences for the families of the deceased and demanded of the government to provide protection for media workers.

Speakers said journalists and other workers in the media were braving threats while information the public on important developments in the country. They said journalists and other staff were equally vulnerable to militants, who were targeting and killing media professionals with impunity.

Islamabad-based writers and intellectuals also condemned the killings of the three Express News workers. “The writers and intellectuals community is appalled by the targeted killings of the media men and workers”, said a press release issued by the Pakistan Intellectual Forum (PIF) Islamabad chapter. “We condemn in the strongest terms the killings of three Express News workers.”

“We call on the federal and the provincial governments to immediately launch an investigation into the gruesome killings and bring the perpetrators to justice in order to end the cycle of violence,” the statement added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2014.