Balochistan PA seeks arrest of journalists’ killers

Published August 31, 2014
The resolution assured the bereaved families that killers would be arrested and brought to justice. .— File photo
The resolution assured the bereaved families that killers would be arrested and brought to justice. .— File photo

QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly through a unanimously adopted resolution on Saturday condemned the killing of two journalists and an employee of a news agency and demanded that culprits be brought to justice.

Minister for Planning and Development Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai tabled the resolution over Thursday’s attack on the office of the bureau office of Online new agency in Quetta in which journalists Irshad Mastoi and Abdul Rasool Khajak and accountant Mohammad Younus were killed.

The resolution assured the bereaved families that killers would be arrested and brought to justice.

Also read: Two journalists among three gunned down in Quetta

Speaking on the point of order, Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal, Hamid Achakzai, Yasmin Lehri, Dr Shama Ishaq, Haji Islam Baloch, Syed Liaquat Agha, Nawab Mohammad Khan Shahwani, Manzoor Kakar and Sardar Abdur Rehman Khetran urged the federal government to implement a resolution that the house had adopted earlier and take action against the participants of the sit-ins being staged in Islamabad for the past two weeks.

They said that protesters had been unconstitutionally and unlawfully demanding dissolution of assemblies and resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

They said undue importance was being given to protesters who wanted to create an anarchic situation to press for their demands.

The lawmakers urged the federal government to remove the protesters from the “red zone” because allowing them to continue their sit-in would encourage undemocratic elements.

Meanwhile, opposition members staged a token walkout from the house against not being allowed to speak on the law and order situation in the province.

They said 37 people, including three media personnel, had been killed in different areas of the province over the past 10 days, but not a single suspect had been arrested yet.

Earlier, journalists staged a walkout from the press gallery and held a demonstration at the main gate of the assembly to protest against the police failure to arrest the killers of the media workers and slow pace of investigation into the case.

The general secretary of the Quetta Press Club, Abdul Khaliq Rind, regretted that despite a lapse of 48 hours police had not arrested the killers and were not informing journalists about progress in the investigation.

Later, Speaker Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali adjourned the session indefinitely.

Published in Dawn, August 31, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...