The News staffer’s house attacked again | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

The News staffer’s house attacked again

Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: In yet another attempt to threaten senior journalist of The News, Shakeel Anjum, for exposing criminals, some half a dozen unknown men attacked his house on Saturday night, breaking a light fixture at the main gate, harassing the family and leaving a ‘message’ for the journalist.

Fortunately the family of Shakeel Ajum had locked the inside door of their house so they remained safe while he was not present in his house at that time. A complaint has been registered with the New Town Police Station of Rawalpindi and according to Shakeel, police were cooperating with him so far.

Details reveal that some five to six unidentified men, presumably armed, thronged the house of Shakeel Anjum in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi at 11 pm, and started hurling threats and asked him to come out. They managed to enter the main gate but fortunately the inner door was locked so they only banged at the door hard and loudly called Shakeel to come out.

Shakeel, who was not present in the house, was informed by the scared family, who immediately called the police.According to the journalist, the attackers remained on the premises of his house for almost 20 minutes but left moments before the police reached the spot. The journalist says that the attackers first confirmed from the neighbours about his house and then attacked it. “One of the attackers entered the house by climbing the wall and broke the globe installed there and then opened the gate while the rest entered through the gate”, the journalist says.

When the attackers beat the inner door very hard, a servant told them from inside that there was no one at home. Upon this, they yelled that they would wait for Shakeel Anjum, says the journalist. The journalist is clueless about the identity of attackers and has informed the police as well who have registered a complaint.

It is worth mentioning here that in September 2006, the same house was attacked in a similar fashion on a Saturday night in which his son Ammar Lasani sustained bullet injuries. The attackers, armed with sophisticated weapons, had forcibly entered the house and dragged his son and nephew out at gunpoint.

They started beating the boys with the butts of their guns and opened fire at the house. As a result one received serious bullet and head injuries. Not only this, the same year, Shakeel Anjum was also implicated in a triple murder by police for exposing them. It was Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who had saved the journalist from the gallows.

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