JournalismPakistan.com | Published June 04, 2012 | Zeeshan Yousafzai
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SWABI—Four journalists were beaten up by police as they protested an earlier incident of police high-handedness during a visit to Swabi Monday by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.
The chief minister was there to inaugurate a model school in the district.
The journalists thrashed were Ihsan ul Haq, President of Swabi Union of Journalists and Bureau Chief of Swabi Times, Fazal Khaliq, correspondent of Daily Express, Azmat Ali of Daily Islam and Asharq and Sher Azam Jadoon correspondent of Daily Jang. The protesters sustained head and hand injuries.
Ihsan ul Haq told JournalismPakistan.com that on May 18 journalists in the district who were covering a protest against cable installation in Naranjee Village, were baton-charged. Scribes Fazal Khaliq and Azmat Ali were injured in that incident and police registered an FIR against them, Ihsan said.
“We held a protest to press for withdrawal of those FIRs during the chief minister’s visit but we were baton-charged by police and members of the Elite Force.”
Following Monday’s incident, the locals blocked the main Swabi Road at Naranjee for an hour that disrupted traffic. They chanted slogans against the District Police Officer Abdur Rasheed and called for his immediate transfer, withdrawal of the FIRs and an investigation into the incident.
The Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) has condemned the attack and demanded a prompt investigation.
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