LAHORE: The Multan Union of Journalists (MUJ) on Wednesday organised a protest to demand the arrest of suspects involved in an ‘armed attack’ on a journalist in Multan.

PFUJ Multan chapter office bearers including its President Malik Shahdat Hussain, general secretary Mazhar Khan and others assembled outside the Multan Press Club and also condemned the killing of a journalist in Lahore.

They said that the country was increasingly becoming unsafe for the journalists and termed it a failure of the state to provide security to its citizens.

On Tuesday night, Rohi TV reporter Malik Amjad and his elder brother Malik Zahid were going to their home by a car when two unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at them near Sikandri Canal in Sorej Miyani.

They alerted police who launched a search operation and registered an attempted murder case.

Mr Amjad told Dawn that he did not know why they were attacked. “We were going to home. When we crossed the deserted portion of the Sikandri Canal, two people riding a Honda bike came near their vehicle and opened fire,” he said.

He said his brother who was driving the car pressed the accelerator.

He said apparently it was not a robbery as the assailants did not try to stop them and only opened fire.

Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Khurrum Shehzad Haider told Dawn that initial investigation had revealed that the journalist was not attacked. “The crime scene evidence suggested that a roadside stone might have come under the tyre of another vehicle and then smashed into the driving side window,” he said. He said had it been a bullet, it would have made a hole in the window instead of damaging it completely. Nonetheless, he said police would look into all aspects.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2022