NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Leaders of various organisations of journalists proceeded to Mehrabpur on Tuesday to offer condolence on behalf of their community to the bereaved family of Aziz Memon, a reporter whose body was found floating in a canal a few days back.

Journalists from across Sindh also visited Mehrapur to join in a big protest demonstration here for the arrest of Memon’s killers.

They said the scope of the protest would be widened to the entire province if police failed to find and arrest the killers by the deadline.

FIR of the alleged murder not registered till Tuesday evening

Leading the protest outside the Mehrabpur police station, Lala Asad Pathan of the Federal Union of Journalists, Khalid Khokhar, Lala Rehman Samoon, Zahid Qaimkhani and others strongly condemned Aziz Memon’s alleged murder and gave the local administration 48 hours for the arrest of culprits.

Shaheed Benazirabad DIG Mazhar Shaikh and SSPs of Nawabshah and Naushahro Feroze also arrived at the venue of the protest and told the protesting journalists that an investigation into the matter was under way and police were making all out efforts to solve the mystery behind Memon’s death.

They held out the assurance that if the incident proved to be a murder, anyone involved in it would be arrested.

An FIR of the alleged murder was not registered till Tuesday evening.

Citing the findings of the investigation conducted so far, DIG Shaikh said that no strangulation marks were found on the neck of the deceased. However, he added, police were waiting for the initial report of the post-mortem examination which was expected to be available by Wednesday.

He said that a [private TV] cameraman taken into custody was being interrogated to ascertain facts and details of the incident.

In Hyderabad, journalists held a protest outside the local press club for a second consecutive day against Memon’s alleged murder.

They appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the killing of two journalists in Naushahro Feroze within a short span of six months.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans for the arrest of culprits, office-bearers and members of the Hyderabad Union of Journalists and Hyderabad Press Club raised slogans and called for a fair inquiry into the incident. Journalists from other parts of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions including Hameedur Rehman, Shiraz Dahiri, Aijaz Leghari and Khalid Chandio also joined in the protest.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2020