Beating of journalists, teachers condemned
LAHORE: The Pakistan Federal Union of journalists has condemned police action against journalÂists at Islamabad and teachers at Lahore and other places of the Punjab.
In a statement here on Tuesday, PFUJ president I.H. Raashed said that the newsmen who included photo journalÂists had been mercilessly beaten up and their cameras snatched by police which amounted to undue interference in the discharge of their duty as working jourÂnalists.
He said that the journalists were beaten up at the orders of the high police officers who were present on the occasion despite the fact that they had identified themselves to the police.
He said that the act of police violence upon journalists was not a new phenomenon as police had on many previous occasions used force against them, including the incident at Faisalabad in April last when 23 journalists and news photographers were injured as a result of police baton charge.
He demanded action against police officials responsible for the violence against Islamabad journalists and an assurance from the government that such incidence of police violence would not be repeated in future.
The PFUJ president also vehemently condemned the police high handedness against the teachers who were agitating against privatization of nationalized educational institutions. He said that teachers were respectable members of society and they did not deserve the harsh treatment police was meting out to them. It was sad and shocking that even lady teachers had not been spared by police. He said that the entire journalist comÂmunity, of the country was with the teachers and, supported their demand. He demanded that the government should stop violence against the teachÂers and meet their just demand.
HRCP: It is difficult to find words strong enough to condemn the brutal acts of violence unleashed by state funcÂtionaries on hapless citizens in Lahore and Islamabad on ‘Black Monday’, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan..
“In both the case of the teachers who faced a fierce baton-charge in Lahore and the villagers who were mercilessly gunned down in Islamabad for making an attempt to protect their property, it can be said that their demands were on issues that needed to be resolved through dialogue, so that both sides of the argument could be addressed. The failure to make any attempt to engage in such negotiations and, instead, the use of brute force to silence voices of protest indicates a continued determination to suppress the most fundamenÂtal rights of the people, even at the cost of their lives and the dignity of human person.
“HRCP has in the past repeatedly called for negotiations in such cases and a building of consensus on matters in dispute. It once again renews this call, and urges state functionaries to recogÂnize that the people of the country are citizens and not slaves. As such their concerns must at the least be heard and respect shown for all people, rather than the contempt and brutality that has been meted out again and Actions such as the ones carried the police on Monday can never justified. Those responsible for unleashing the terrible wrath of the state on peaceful citizens must be penalised under the law and similar measures in the prevented.
“The arrogance of power displayed the authorities can only widen divide between the state and citizen similar acts of violent repression done in the past. This is turn can only add to the many difficulties faced people in the country and further is their trust in the ability of authorities to solve these problems. The right of the people to articulate their concerns and to protest against what they, perceive to be unjust must be accepted as inviolable,” the HRCP said.
Source: The Dawn
Date:7/31/2002
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