Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi ordered Thursday an investigation into a raid conducted by the Islamabad Police at the National Press Club, where several journalists were allegedly attacked.
Images emitted Dawnnewstv They showed police armed with canes attacking journalists at the facilities of the press club. The images shared on social networks also showed the police dragging journalists from what the cafeteria seemed to be.
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Another video shared by a Dawn.com The correspondent showed a journalist holding his Nikon Rota camera and his shirt was torn by the back.
A statement issued by NAQVI stated that he had noticed the “unfortunate” incident and demanded a report by the Islamabad Police General.
“Violence against the journalist community cannot be tolerated under any circumstance,” he said. “Disciplinary measures should be taken against the officials involved in the incident,” he said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Federal Union of Journalists of Pakistan (PFUJ), AFZAL BUTT, held a press conference together with the Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry at the National Press Club.
He said that during the police raid, when press club officers tried to intervene and resolve the matter, they were “beaten and tortured.”
“They even arrested two people, which were later released,” Butt added.
He added that several people on the scene said they had to make the police release them. “Today’s incident is a matter of now or never for us,” said Butt.
He announced that the PFUJ had called an “emergency session”, where “we will consult and attribute our demands about what the government must do to avoid what the police did today.
“We will also decide our course of action and announce it after the meeting.”
Butt said: “We always avoid confrontation with political parties. Our friends were very angry … but I controlled them … something like that had never happened before.
“That you enter a photographer’s house: the press club is his second home […] That you enter his house without permission, you hit him and break his camera and mobile phone. This has never happened before. “
Butt claimed that even the members of the press club and its officers were “defeated.”
“This is not just the problem of the Islamabad press club. Press clubs throughout Pakistan are the opinion that if they turn a blind eye to this worst incident, similar incidents could occur in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.
“That is why we will first consult our friends here and then in Pakistan. Then we will decide the action plan and present our demands.”
For his part, Chaudhry said he condemned the incident and apologized for him. “Please consider this when you celebrate your meeting,” he said, ensuring that he was also ready to meet them again after their meeting.
Chaudhry’s office also issued a statement that was unconditionally apologized to the incident, adding that it happened “suddenly.”
“Some people from [JAAC] They protested [and] Some of their people had mistreated police personnel, “said the statement.” When they tried to arrest these people, the police pursued them. Police came to the press club to arrest the protesters who were wearing bad [officers]. “
The statement added that Chaudhry had ordered internal investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, the information minister, Attaullah Tarar, described the incident as “unfortunate” in a statement, promising that a comprehensive investigation would be carried out.
“Interior Minister Naqvi did not order the police to enter the press club,” he said. “The National Press Club is my home and I am with him,” he said.
‘Shameful and condemnable’
The incident caused outrage in social networks when journalists denounced the assault. In a publication on X, the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) condemned the “assault on Islamabad police journalists” at the National Press Club.
“HRCP strongly condemns the raid at the National Press Club and [the] Assault on journalists by the Islamabad Police, “wrote the Rights Group in an X.” We demand immediate investigation and those responsible for the book. “
The journalist Hamid Mir declared that the police were trying to arrest the members of the Awami Joint Action Committee (Jaac) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and that they had “journalists attacked present in the cafeteria.”
“This is totally unnecessary and condemnable,” said journalist Syed Talat Hussain.
“As if there were not enough open fronts. Treating the National Press Club as a criminal hiding place and then using violence in its facilities is crazy without any method,” he said.
The journalist Matiullah Jan condemned the incident in an X publication, calling him “extremely shameful and condemnable.”
“This incident is [a product] of the incompetence and cowardice of the club administration, “Jan.” wrote. The press club is the home of journalists, where it is shameful that the police break into the cafeteria with canes and attack people, “he said.
Journalist Anas Malick, who works with the television channel Asia oneHe claimed that the police had raided the club to arrest the Kashmir’s journalists who covered a “call to the protest” by the Jaac, and added that the police were “acting as thugs.”
The journalist Zebunnisa Burki called the emerging images of the “crazy” raid and added that journalists were being attacked by the police within the press club itself.
More to follow
