Police fail to solve journalist’s blind murder | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Police fail to solve journalist’s blind murder

By: Israr Ahmad

RAWALPINDI – The gruesome and unsolved murder of Raja Assad Hameed, a senior journalist associated with TheNation, has exposed the poor performance of Rawalpindi police as they have shelved the case file and upped their hands while declaring it as “untraced”.

This action of the Rawalpindi police raised many eyesbrows as it has become the habit of the local police that it only works with dedication and commitment on the suo moto notices of Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) or Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s personal intervention otherwise the police bosses pay no heed to solve the cases, no matter how important they are.

On March 23, 2009, unidentified gunmen had killed Raja Assad Hameed, also associated with TV channel Waqt News, while he was parking his car at his house, located at Dhoke Kala Khan, the area of Police Station Sadiqabad.

A murder case number 283 under section 324/24 PPC was filed with the areas police the same day but unfortunately the police could not find any clue or trace the killers despite passage of three years, something seeking strong attention of SCP and CM Punjab.

What the area police officials have done in three years is to throw the murder case file of renowned journalist Raja Assad Hameed into dustbin.

Raja Amjad Hameed, the brother of late Assad, while talking to TheNation on Tuesday, took the police to the task for not solving the blind murder case even after the passage of three years saying, “It is the sheer negligence of police wigs who even could not find any clue in the murder case”.

He said that they appealed to the CM Punjab, Regional Police Officer (RPO) and City Police Officer (CPO) to direct police officers concerned to arrest the killers but all in vain.

He said that he was also attacked by some unknown assailants a month after the murder of Assad, a case of which had also been registered with the police, but they did nothing in this regard.

CPO Azhar Hameed Khokher, as usual, did not pick up his cell phone, when this scribe tried to get his point of view on the issue.

During an interaction with TheNation, SP Rawal Town Malik Matloob Ahmed Awan was also not aware about the case. “I have not red the file of the case so far and it will be difficult for me to speak about it. SHO PS Sadiqabad is only the concerned person who can provide you information in this regard,” he added. On the other hand, the office bearers of Crime and Court Reporters Association Rawalpindi (CCRAR) and National Press Club Islamabad (NPC) vehemently denounced the poor performance of police for not hunting the killers of Assad so far.

They demanded of the Chief Minister to take notice of the situation or else the journalist community would agitate across the province.

A large number of journalists, family members of Raja Assad Hameed, politicians including Rahat Masood Qadoosi of PTI, educationists and people belonging to various walks of life attended the function.

They offered Fateh for the departed soul.

It is pertinent to mention here that Raja Assad Hameed, the reporter of TheNation and TV Channel Waqt News, was gunned down on March 23, 2009 by unknown attackers outside his home located at Dhoke Kala Khan.

The Nation