KARACHI, May 30: Media-men on Wednesday sent strong warnings to the government and pressure groups to desist from sending death threats to journalists, who were doing their duty and disseminating facts. They demanded that the elements responsible for Tuesday night’s threats should be exposed and brought to justice.
This was expressed at a protest meeting held at the Karachi Press Club, which was followed by a protest demonstration outside the KPC to condemn the death threats.
The threats were conveyed by unknown persons who had left envelops containing bullets on the vehicles of two foreign news agency correspondents -- Mazhar Abbas and Zarar Khan -- and a press photographer, Asif Hussain, in Karachi late on Tuesday night.
The protest meeting and rally was organised by the Karachi Union of Journalists and was addressed by Ahfazur Rehman, Mazhar Abbas, Zarar Khan, Shamim-ur-Rahman, Sabihuddin Ghausi, Imtiaz Khan Faran, Maqsood Yousufi, Tariq Abul Hassan, Idrees Bakhtiar, Javed Asghar, Faisal Aziz and others.
Members of the legal fraternity and political parties have also condemned the threats to the media-men and were present in a large number at the protest meeting.
The names of the targeted journalists appeared on a list issued by the Mohajir Rabita Council, in which they were termed “anti-Mohajir chauvinists.”
In strongly-worded statements, journalists vowed not to be cowed down by death threats and vowed to continue their struggle for the freedom of the press and expression.
Former President of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Ahfazur Rehman, said that those involved in the act wanted to force journalists to impose self-censorship.
Mazhar Abbas, Secretary-General of the PFUJ, said the media would never surrender before pressures and threats and would continue to tell the truth to the people.
He told the participants that it was not the first time that he had received life threats, saying that in 1992 his house was attacked but he had not given in.
Abbas said he does not blame anyone for the recent incident and was ready to meet the leadership of the Mohajir Rabita Council, and would fight for their right of difference of opinion.
Zarar Khan disclosed that a black and white car had chased him two days before the incident from the KPC to his residence. He urged for unity in the ranks of journalists adding that the media and judiciary were fighting for a positive change in the country.
KPC President, Sabihuddin Ghausi, said that the time had come for the media to expose all those behind the violence.
KUJ President Shamim-ur-Rahman asked the government to apprehend the culprits to prove its neutrality.
