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HYDERABAD, March 17: Journalists and political and social activists brought out rallies across the province on Saturday against police attack on the offices of a private TV channel and an English daily in Islamabad.
In Hyderabad, journalists staged a rally, which started from the local press club and got back to its starting point where the protesters formed human chain after staging a sit-in at DPO office roundabout.
Local leaders and activists of political parties including PPP, PPP-SB, Jamaat-i-Islami, STPP, PML-N, ANP, Sindh National Congress and lawyers including office-bearers of High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Hyderabad and Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) also joined the protest.
Earlier, the club president Shahid Shaikh, general secretary Jaffar Memon, Aziz Malik, Ali Hassan, Abdul Hafeez Abid, Naz Sehto and Hamid Sheikh condemned the attack in a general body meeting on the offices of Geo and The News in Islamabad. They vowed to resist any move to muzzle the press.A large number of Awami Tehrik workers led by Ayaz Latif Palijo staged a token hunger strike outside the club while lawyers led by representatives of HCBA and HDBA including Abdul Sattar Qazi, Allah Bachayo Soomro and Basheer Ahmed Gujjar staged a protest sit-in inside the club to express solidarity with journalists.
Activists of different political parties staged separate protest demonstrations outside the club to condemn rendering the chief justice non-functional and attack on the TV channel.
The Sindh Taraqqi-Pasand Party Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, in a statement, slammed action against the chief justice and attack on TV channel’s office.In Tando Muhammad Khan district lawyers and journalists held separate rallies to condemn the attack.
SANGHAR: Journalists staged a rally and deplored that the country had been converted into a police state where freedom of press and expression was increasingly becoming eroded.
Members of Sindh Journalists Organisation, Federal Union of Journalists, Pakistan Hydro Electric Central Labour Union and Chamber of Commerce and Industry also participated in the rally.
The leaders said that the rulers having trampled upon the parliament and the judiciary had now turned towards the press. The rulers could not stand even a small resistance against their unconstitutional and illegal acts, they said. Later, the rally dispersed peacefully.
NAWABSHAH: Journalists staged a rally and a demonstration at the press club chowk and raised slogans against Punjab police and the government. Members of District Bar Association and several political parties including PPP, PML-N, MMA and trade unions also joined the protest.
The press club president Mohammad Anwar Shaikh, Ismail Domki, Aslam Munir, Syed Ali Mohammad Shah, MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, DBA General Secretary Ziaul Hassan Lanjar and former MPA Rahim Bux Jamali termed the attack an assault on the freedom of press.
NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Journalists in Naushahro Feroze and Moro staged a demonstration while the activists of Awami Tehrik led by Khan Soomro brought out a rally in Moro.
Activists of PPP-SB led by Zafar Khoso also staged a demonstration outside the Naushahro Feroze press club and slammed the attack on Geo TV office.
