QUETTA: A journalist associated with DawnNews was beaten up by Quetta police in the early hours of Monday.

Personnel from the Industrial Police Station picked up reporter Hafeezullah Sherani from his residence at around 3 am and badly beat him up.

Sherani said police constables hit his face and tore off his clothes.

No comment of police high ups was available and telephone calls to CCPO Quetta Razzaq Cheema went unanswered despite several attempts.

“They didn’t even tell me why they came to pick me up and why they resorted to torturing me in front of my family members,” he told Dawn.

He said police personnel knocked on his door in a threatening manner, which prompted him to telephone the relevant Station House Officer Shaukat Jaddon who assured him that there would be no violence and asked him to open the door.

“Seven policemen led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Mr Shahzad used their weapons to hit my face without listening to anything I had to say,” he said.

Another senior journalist Ali Shah told Dawn that no action had so far been taken against the police party involved.

Shah said Sherani’s face was swollen and he was injured and his clothes were also torn.

“Now SHO Jadoon and others are seeking pardon after the news aired. They are saying that the mishap occurred due to a ‘misunderstanding',” he added.

“The brutal torture of a journalist clearly shows what police do to a common man,” Sherani said.