Union leaders condemn raid on Karachi Press Club and arrest of journalist

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 7 years ago

ISLAMABAD – President of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) on Wednesday condemned the recent raid on Karachi Press Club and the arrest of a senior journalist.

Afzal Butt, speaking at a protest outside the National Press Club, warned that if the government did not take notice of these incidents, the union would take drastic steps.

He said that PFUJ considers the raid on the press club as an attack on all such clubs in the country. “We strongly condemn this and see it as an attack on the freedom of the press.”

He called on the Sindh government to take action against those involved in the incident.

Mubarak Zeb Khan (President of RIUJ), Ali Raza Alvi (Secretary RIUJ) and Shakeel Anjum (Secretary NPC) during their speeches pointed out that the authorities were trying to intimidate the press, and said this would not be tolerated.

RIUJ organized the protest.

On November 8, about a dozen armed men in plain clothes barged into the Karachi Press Club harassing journalists, and making videos and taking pictures of the premises.

They came in about half a dozen double cabin vehicles, Land Cruisers, and Prados and were accompanied by a police mobile van, reports said.

Later, the law enforcers raided the home of Nasrullah Khan, a journalist with Urdu-language newspaper Nai Baat and arrested him allegedly for being in possession of impermissible literature.

Photo by: RIUJ