ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR/SINDH:
The Senate, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh Assembly on Monday adopted
resolutions to condemn the attack on Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir
and urged the federal government to take effective steps for the safety
and protection of journalists across the country.
In
the Senate, the routine proceedings were suspended to debate the
increasing risks to journalists with particular reference to the attack
on Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir, after the media persons stormed out
of the Press Gallery.
The House adopted a unanimous
resolution read out by Senator Sehar Kamran, strongly condemning the
attempt on the life of Hamid Mir. The upper house expressed deep concern
over the attacks on media persons and media houses and called on the
government to take effective steps for their security.
It
was a private members’ day that was set aside to pacify the journalists.
Senators in their speeches said the attack on Hamid Mir was yet another
lethal attempt to stifle the media and lamented that nothing had been
learnt from the past deadly attacks on media persons.
Senators,
mostly from the opposition benches including Leader of the Opposition
Aitzaz Ahsan and Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, who heads the House
panel on defence, called for a halt to “army and ISI bashing” and asked
the government to defend the military and the top spy agency vis-à-vis
the Karachi tragedy on Saturday.
It was unusual that both
the Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq and Leader of the
Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan together visited the Press Lounge to listen to
the concerns and demands of journalists, following their walkout.
The
House decided to form a committee under Mian Raza Rabbani, including
one senator from each party, to interact with media representatives for
their protection and rights. The body will also look into the assurances
that had been given to journalists but never implemented.
After
convincing the journalists to end the boycott of the House, Raja Zafar
made a statement on the floor of the Senate that on the proposal by
media persons a House committee will be formed under Mian Raza Rabbani
while Afrasiab Khattak, Saeed Ghani, Rafique Rajwana and Muzaffar
Hussain Shah will be its members.
To evolve a mechanism
for protection of journalists’ rights, the committee will also bring a
piece of legislation privately or the government can also move it. A
bill already submitted by Jamaat-e-Islami’s senators many months back
will also be looked into.
Senators Abdul Rauf, Tahir
Hussain Mashhadi, Hafiz Hamdullah, Kamil Ali Agha and Maulana Ghafoor
Haideri protested on being overlooked. The MQM and JUI-Fazl senators
also walked out of the House.
Haji Adeel and Hamdullah
agitated over a comment by the chair, whereby he defended the PPP and
PML-N having named the panel members as they were the only two federal
parties. He was asked to withdraw his comment.
Later,
Deputy Chairman Sabir Baloch, who was chairing the sitting, gave the
ruling that one senator from each party in the House should be made part
of the proposed panel.
Those who spoke on the issue of
killing of media persons and attacks on them included Aitzaz Ahsan,
Mushahid Hussain, Haji Muhammad Adeel, Farhatullah Babar, Afrasiab
Khattak, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Saeed Ghani.
They
asserted that now that a judicial commission had been formed, there must
be no exceptions and that no one should rush to judgments and its
findings must be made public once the job was done and reports of
Hamoodur Rehman, the Abbottabad Commission, Saleem Shahzad murder and
Umar Cheema probe details be shared with the House.
A
mention of the ISI’s past with reference to the training of Mujahideen
for Jihad against the then USSR in Afghanistan, Operation Midnight
Jackal and its involvement in electoral process vis-à-vis the Asghar
Khan case was made by Aitzaz Ahsan. However, he advised against blaming
the ISI with regard to the attack on Hamid Mir.
Like other
senators, Aitzaz Ahsan too demanded that those named by Hamid Mir
should be probed thoroughly and, if found guilty, they must be punished,
irrespective of their status or position.
Mushahid
emphasised there should be no army and ISI bashing and noted the ISI was
a part of the government, as DG ISI was answerable to the prime
minister. He insisted the government should defend the army as well as
the prime secret agency. He added no one should be defamed or maligned.
He
proposed that parallel to the judicial commission, an inter-agency task
force should also investigate the incident. The senator called for a
permanent joint parliamentary committee to work for protection of media
persons in view of recurring attacks on them.
Afrasiab
Khattak called for making public the past probe reports so that mistakes
made in the past should not be repeated and corrective measures be
taken. He pointed out the Supreme Court had asked the government to
enact laws on intelligence agencies and missing persons, which hitherto
were not made. The senator noted the House committee on human rights had
also submitted a report for legislation.
Senator
Farhatullah Babar called for a framework for protection of media
persons.Saeed Ghani said “ISI bashing has to some extent spoiled Hamid
Mir’s case” and cautioned against drawing conclusions at this stage. He
regretted why the government had not made a demand from the TTP to
withdraw their Fatwa calling for killing media persons and asked for
inclusion of this demand during talks with the militants.
He
said those mentioned by Hamid Mir with regard to threats to his life
should be investigated in a transparent way. He offered to voluntarily
withdraw his name from the proposed committee. Mashhadi also said those
nominated by Hamid Mir and his family should be probed but cautioned
against becoming judge, jury and executive.
Also, the
Sindh Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted three resolutions
condemning the weekend’s armed attack on senior anchorperson of Geo News
Hamid Mir in Karachi, calling for immediate arrest of the culprits and
also praying for an early recovery of the journalist.
The
resolutions of identical nature on the issue, which also appreciated the
services of Hamid Mir for the nation, were moved and read out
separately in the House by Sindh Information and Local Government
Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, parliamentary leader of the Muttahida
Qaumi Movement in Sindh Assembly Syed Sardar Ahmed, Nand Kumar and
Nusrat Sehar Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) and Khurram
Sher Zaman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Meanwhile, the
representatives of print and electronic media covering the assembly
proceedings also staged a token walkout from the Press Gallery to
register their protest against the armed attack on the life of Hamid
Mir.
Speaking to media persons, Sharjeel Inam Memon said
two CCTV cameras were installed at the place near the Karachi Airport
where senior anchorperson Hamid Mir came under attack. He said one of
the two cameras was found to be defective while the link of the other
camera was down, so no footage of the attack was recorded. He said the
Sindh government had started proper investigations into the faulty
working of the CCTV network at the place of the armed attack.
He
said the Sindh government had approached the authorities concerned in
the federal government for obtaining the relevant data and record of
cellular phone communications related to the attack incident.
Meanwhile,
the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a
resolution condemning the attack on Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir and
termed it an attack on press freedom.
The bipartisan
resolution presented by Minister for Health Shaukat Yousafzai vowed to
defend the freedom of the press. It asked the government to launch an
independent investigation into the incident and expose the attackers.
“This
assembly condemns the attack on prominent anchorperson and senior
journalist Hamid Mir and declares it an attack on the freedom of press,”
it said.“This assembly pays tribute to Hamid Mir for promoting freedom
of the press and assures that this assembly will stand by the freedom of
the press,” it continued.
The resolution also expressed
concern over threats to other senior journalists and demanded an
investigation into the issue. It called upon the government to provide
protection to media persons.
