ISLAMABAD, April 19: Journalists covering the National Assembly continued their boycott of the sitting of the lower house for the second day on Tuesday to protest against maltreatment of their colleagues on the arrival of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari in Lahore from Dubai on Saturday.

The journalists demand that the National Assembly pass a unanimous resolution to condemn the Punjab government for the police action against journalists.

The boycott of the journalists was more comprehensive on Tuesday as the official news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), Pakistan Television Corporation and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) also joined them to express solidarity with the community.

The opposition members belonging to the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) repeatedly asked the government to hold negotiations with the journalists and pass a condemnation resolution against the Punjab government. Federal Law Minister Wasi Zafar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan said the resolution prepared by the PPP members was not acceptable to them as it was not based on facts and there was a lot of exaggeration in it.

At one stage, Dr Afgan told the speaker that he had gone to meet the journalists in the cafeteria but they were not present there. He said the government wanted to hold talks with the journalists, but they had not come to the Parliament House.

After the minister’s statement, the journalists went to the press gallery and came out again only to show that the minister was not telling the truth and they were present at the press lounge.

Later, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anisazeb Tahirkheli went to the journalists to hold negotiations with them. The journalists even boycotted the meeting with the minister when instead of expressing solidarity with the former she tried to justify the police action saying that it was done due to security concerns. The journalists protested over her remarks and refused to have tea with her.