KARACHI, May 4: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has called upon journalists to observe May 5 as a black day to protest against the ‘brutal’ police action against media people in Islamabad and Lahore during rallies marking International Press Freedom Day.

PFUJ president Pervaiz Shoukat and Secretary-General Mazhar Abbas in a joint statement on Wednesday said what happened at the peaceful journalists’ rallies in Islamabad and Lahore on May 3 had exposed the claim of the federal information minister about press freedom under the government of President General Pervez Musharraf.

The PFUJ said police in Islamabad and Lahore treated the participants of the journalists’ rallies as terrorists or militants and even women journalists were not spared.

It said it was condemnable that the government had not taken any action against the officials responsible for these actions, raising doubts about the motive behind the police attacks on journalists.