ISLAMABAD Mar 20: The journalists covering Senate proceedings on Monday staged a walkout at the upper house to protest, what was termed as, administrative harassment of a fellow journalist working in Karachi.

The government later assured the mediapersons that it would launch an inquiry into the matter and take action if necessary.

The protesting journalists informed the deputy chairman Senate, Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali, and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Raza Hayat Harraj, who visited the press gallery, that their colleague Rashid Channa, a reporter in Star Karachi, had been receiving threats for last few days and his house was also burgled last week.

The journalists demanded that the government should investigate the matter and take suitable action against those harassing their colleague.

They also raised the issue of some 20 local journalists who were taken to Basha dam site by some northern areas officials, arrested, and then left stranded in Mansehra.

Mr Harraj said the interior minister had been informed about the case of Karachi journalist, while the matter pertaining to northern areas would be conveyed to Kashmir Affairs Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat for necessary action.