SUKKUR: A journalists’ convention has urged caretaker Sindh government to stop mantra of deadlines and bring killers of the slain reporter Jan Muhammad Mahar to justice.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists president G.M. Jamali said at the ‘Shaheed Jan Muhammad Mahar Journalists Convention’ organised by Sukkur Union of Journalists late on Tuesday evening that if Sindh police was incapable of laying hands on their colleague’s killers, then an operation should be launched in riverine area with the help of Pakistan army and Rangers.

He said the objective of the convention in Sukkur and Larkana and sit-in at Karachi was to raise demand for the arrest of Mahar’s killers. “Our patience should not be tested,” he warned, adding as soon as December 24 deadline was over, they would launch a decisive movement for the arrest of Mahar’s killers.

He noted that interior of Sindh, especially Sukkur region, was also becoming unsafe for journalist like Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where fake cases were being registered against journalists in order to harass them. Murders of Mahar, Asghar Khand, Aziz Memon and Ajay Lalwani, were an attempt to gag the voice of truth, he said.

He said the elements involved in the conspiracy of Mahar’s murder would be exposed soon and warned there would be no compromise on journalists’ issues.

Ghazi Jhandir said that Sukkur region had turned into an abattoir of journalists. Journalists of Sindh were united, he said, urging the state to bring Mahar’s killers to justice.

Hassan Abbas said that they wanted to know who were the real killers of Mahar. They were pressing the government for the arrest killers alive so that the conspiracy behind the murder could be exposed, he said.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023