Imran Khan calls Gandapur's anti-media comments 'inappropriate'

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published last year |  JP Staff Report

ISLAMABAD-Former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday termed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur's remarks about the media at the September 8 rally inappropriate.

"Ali Amin Gandapur should not have said what he did about journalists," the former prime minister told reporters in Adiala Jail.

While addressing a political rally in Islamabad, Gandapur 'cursed' journalists who he alleged were not 'supporting' or covering PTI stories and labeled them 'sellouts', before inciting the crowd to back him up. During the attack, the minister also allegedly targeted an unnamed female political presenter calling her transgender, corrupt, and performing journalism for the government when "shown money."

Journalists’ bodies, including the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), the National Press Club (NPC), Karachi Press Club (KPC), Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) and the Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) have fiercely condemned the use of vulgar and vile language against the journalist community.

"There are good and bad people in every field. Ali Amin Gandapur spoke too much in the heat of the moment," Khan said. He added that the chief minister should have remembered that journalists are performing their duties despite the pressure.