Journalists protest against Imran’s dressing down of reporter

KHUJ demands PTI chief apologise to reporter he shut down for questioning his supposed inability to judge people

PESHAWAR: Journalists in Peshawar protested outside Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister House on Thursday against what they called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s ‘defamatory attitude’ towards a TV reporter.

Demanding Imran to apologise to the reporter, the protesting journalists asked him to take back his ‘harsh’ words.

While chanting slogans of ‘Go Imran Go’, the journalists walked from Peshawar Press Club building to CM’s House on the call of Khyber Union of Journalists (KHUJ) and the Peshawar Press Club.



“Imran Khan should not use these kinds of words for journalists,” KHUJ president Nisar Mehmood said, while addressing the participants of the protest. “All community people condemn the harsh words used by the PTI chief for a reporter.”

Further, the KHUJ president demanded the PTI leader to take back his words used against the reporter, warning Imran of continued protests in case he did not apologise.

“People like Imran Khan and everyone wants to know about his personal life. If his party publically announced his divorce then it is not a personal matter,” Peshawar Press Club General Secretary Fida Adeel said.

“It is the right of a journalist to ask questions from public figures. Imran should give positive responses and if he is not interested he should simply say sorry, no comments on this topic,” he advised the PTI chief.



Earlier, Arif Yousafzai, a local TV reporter, was shut down by the PTI chief upon questioning the latter’s ability to judge people around him.

At a news conference in Peshawar, the reporter had poked Imran on his supposed inability to judge people while selecting his close aides in either political or private life because whoever he selected ditched him in the end. Imran lost his temper and attacked the journalist instead of replying to the query. “Every society has some form of etiquettes. Every individual has some dignity or some manners,” he chided.