LAHORE:
Journalists on Monday continued their symbolic hunger strike camp for
the second consecutive day in front of the Lahore Press Club to condemn a
murderous attempt on senior journalist Hamid Mir and a possible action
against the Geo TV.
LPC President Arshad Ansari, LPC
Secretary Muhammad Shahbaz Mian, Joint Secretary Farzana Ch, senior
journalist Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Shafiq Awan, Wasif Nagi, LPC Governing
Body Member Qamaruz Zaman Bhatti, Imran Sheikh, Punjab Union of
Journalist President Waseem Farooq, Imtiaz Rashid, Gohar Butt, Maqsood
Butt, Javed Farooqi, Maqsood Awan, Mian Abid, Zulfiqar Ali Mehto, Waseem
Babar, Advocate Malik Feroz and other lawyers participated in the camp
set up under the banner of the Lahore Press Club.
Addressing
the participants, Arshad Ansari said it was highly condemnable that
nine days had passed since the murderous attempt on Hamid Mir, but the
culprits were still at large. He announced that till the attackers were
not arrested, their strike camp would continue. He said the journalists
community would not tolerate any action against the Geo TV for the cause
of the freedom of expression. He said the economic murder of media
workers could not be allowed. He said the whole community would stand by
all journalists and media houses in testing times. He said from April
30, the members of all press clubs of the country would reach Lahore and
the whole community would organise rallies and demonstrations for four
consecutive days from May 1.
He said conspiracies were
being hatched on a daily basis to curb the Geo but the journalists
community stood united with the Geo to foil all such attempts. He said a
rally would be organised on May 2 in favour of the freedom of
expression and a procession would proceed on May 3 from the Lahore Press
Club to the Punjab Assembly.
Shahbaz Mian said the
journalists community was not divided on the issue of Hamid Mir and
would foil all conspiracies in this regard.
Punjab Bar
Council Member Malik Sarwar said journalists and lawyers had supported
each other in strengthening democracy in the country and the same would
be continued in future as well.
Forum for International
Relations and Development Chairman Taha Qureshi said the media had paid a
heavy price for the sake of democracy and no one could curb its
freedom. He said his organisation would not support any action against
the Geo TV.
Our Peshawar Correspondent adds: The newly
elected body of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) on
Monday termed the attack on the Geo News anchor Hamid Mir as an assault
on the freedom of the press and asked the government to arrest the
assailants forthwith.
PHCBA newly elected Secretary
General Muhammad Ayaz Khan told The News that the Jang Group had played a
historic role for the independence of the judiciary and restoration of
democracy.
“After the successful lawyers’ movement, all
of us including the media, civil society and lawyers were under attack
on various fronts. The media had given full support to the lawyers’
movement and now lawyers would stand by the media in this difficult
time,” he added.
PHCBA’s new President Muhammad Isa Khan
said that freedom of the press was the need of the hour, but freedom of
expression should be under the law and as per the Constitution. He said
unlawful acts of the government against freedom of the press were not
acceptable.
About his newly elected team’s work plan, he
said his first priority would be to establish good working and cordial
relations between the bar and the bench. He said the cause list in the
PHC was too long and sometime cases were adjourned without hearing.
“My
effort would be to reduce the cause list so that there is enough time
to hear each case,” he said, adding that important and urgent cases
should be heard in one or two days. He said due to the backlog of work
the vital cases were also fixed for hearing in a week or two.
He
said the lawyers in the provincial capital were facing car parking
problem, lack of bar rooms and various unresolved legal issues with the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.
He said he would try to
stop pre-poll rigging in the PHCBA election. He claimed that in every
election the presidential and other candidates deposit the membership
fee of the voters that is in thousands.
“I would try to
issue lifetime PHCBA membership. It would not only end pre-poll rigging,
but also eliminate the stigma from the lawyers of defaulting on payment
of dues,” he said. He added that the new body would also try to
discourage the role of non-practicing lawyers in the bar associations.
Ayaz
Khan, the PHCBA general secretary, said he would try to introduce a
system of assistance to the families of those lawyers who became
handicapped or their practice was affected due to illness.
In
the PHCBA election on Saturday, Muhammad Isa Khan, a presidential
candidate of the Muttahida Lawyers Panel won by securing 684 votes. His
rival Muzammil Khan, who was a joint candidate of the People’s Lawyers
Forum (PLF) and the ANP-affiliated Malgari Wakeelan, got 616 votes.
Muhammad
Ayaz Khan, the joint candidate of PLF and Malgari Wakeelan won the
election as secretary general by obtaining 583 votes. His rival Hazrat
Said got 376 votes.
Jamal Afridi, the candidate of
Muttahida Lawyers Forum won the election as vice president by securing
607 votes. He defeated Irshad Ahmad Durrani who got 443 votes. Kashif
Jan was elected as the joint secretary by obtaining 732 votes. His rival
Imad Anjum Durrani got 523 votes.
Wajid Hussain won
election for the office of finance secretary by getting 736 votes. Ziaul
Hassan was elected the press secretary. A female lawyer, Gul Naz won
election as member of the executive committee with 372 votes
