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.
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