KARACHI – Media personnel boycotted the Sindh Assembly (SA) session on Friday, refusing to report on the happenings inside the house, in protest against the murder of Wali Khan Babar.
Babar, a reporter associated with the Geo News, was gunned down in Liaquatabad on Thursday evening, in what is believed to be a targeted killing incident.
The journalists gathered at the staircase near the assembly’s main entrance and staged a protest sit-in. They chanted slogans demanding the arrest of the murderers of their colleague, as well as an end to sectarian and ethnic violence in the city.
A group comprising PPP and MQM leaders tried to pacify the protesting journalists and persuade them to end their boycott. However, the journalists refused to end their protest for a day, while announcing that no government event would be provided coverage on Friday.
Addressing the gathered media personnel, senior journalists Habib Khan Ghauri and Shahid Jatoi said the reporters would not cover the house proceedings for at least a day.
Opposition Leader Jam Madad Ali condemned the assassination of Babar and said the journalists were performing their duties and killing them was an attempt to restrain them from service.
Later, the protestors marched from the SA to the Karachi Press Club (KPC) while chanting, “Sahafiyon ka qatle aam, band karo, band karo.”
Information Adviser Sharmila Farooqui also visited the KPC to meet journalists and assured them that the culprits involved in the murder would be soon taken to task.
Authorities helpless before courts: Talking to journalists earlier, Adviser Farooqi said the government has the political will to curb targeted killings and crime in the city but it is helpless before the courts.
She said the police arrested the culprits and produced them before the court but the courts released them. The Sindh High Court also released three members of a banned outfit on Friday morning, she added.
Farooqi asked the journalists to cooperate with the government for eliminating crime and terrorism, adding that anti-social and anti-democratic elements were trying to create rifts among democratic forces.
SA Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza said political workers and journalists are both victims of terrorism in the country.
Referring to the assassination of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, she said the anti-democratic forces did not even spare a sitting governor of the PPP. But there is no need to fear, she said, adding that journalists and political workers could jointly fight these elements.
PPP’s Rafiq Engineer said the anti-democratic elements are trying to repeat clashes on ethnic and sectarian basis in the city.
MQM’s Faisal Subzwari also assured the journalists of support in and outside the assembly building.
SA passes resolution: Later, Opposition Leader Ali and Sabzwari told journalists that the house has passed a resolution to condemn the killing of Babar. The joint resolution condemned the killing of eight people in the city on Thursday, including the journalist in Liaquatabad, a girl in Orangi Town, and the injured ANP leader Bashir Khan, they added.
