Safma and SAMC condemn killing of journalists
KARACHI: South Asian Free Media Association, South Asia Media Commission and Media Commission-Pakistan have jointly condemned the killings of two journalists in a week.
The joint statement was released by Safma Secretary General Imtiaz Alam, SAMC Secretary General M Ziauddin, and Media Commission-Pakistan’s president Arif Nizami and General Secretary Babar Ayaz.
The joint statement said that Malik Mumtaz, a correspondent for Jang, The News and Geo News and president of the Miranshah Press Club, was killed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) when he was returning home after visiting a nearby village.
“Journalists in Pakistan are pursuing a hazardous profession. They are being targeted with impunity. Had the killers of any one of the 50 journalists killed in the last few years been caught and punished, the security situation for the country’s media would have been better,” the statement underlined.
They also expressed outrage over the death of the chief reporter of the state-controlled Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) wire agency in Karachi, Khushnood Ali Sheikh, in a hit-and-run accident by a car near his house after receiving threats following his refusal to pay extortion money.
“We extend our condolences to the families of the two journalists. We demand that the government immediately find and punish those behind these attacks,” they said. They also demanded that compensation to the journalists’ families by the employers and government.—PR
Our correspondent adds: Journalists staged a protest demonstration at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday to condemn the killing of The News and Geo News reporter Malik Mumtaz and APP chief reporter Khushnood Ali Sheikh.
Participants of the protest, which was organised by the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.Addressing the participants, President KUJ GM Jamali demanded from the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the killings, adding that more than 97 journalists had been killed during the last 10 years but no culprit had been arrested.
He demanded of the CJP to take suo moto notice of the killings. He said that the journalists’ community would continue their struggle for the freedom of press. Secretary General PFUJ Amin Yousuf and Mazhar Abbas also spoke.
Source: The News
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