Interior State Minister Talal Chaudhry and Islamabad Igp Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi assured the media separately on Friday of investigation into the recent actions of the police against journalists at the National Press Club (NPC).
IGP Rizvi was talking to the media outside the Superior Court of Islamabad when he was asked blank about who authorized the police to use violence against journalists.
“The research team will review CCTV images and reach the bottom of the matter,” said the PGI, ensuring journalists that an investigation has been launched to the incident.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry went to the media questions in the National Assembly room. He stressed that the government was not on board with the police that broke into the press club.
Read: Islamabad Police Storm National Press Club
However, he said that “this incident had no connection with any restriction on freedom of expression.”
“The democratic and constituent system of Pakistan is incomplete without a free press,” he added.
Chaudhry had hurried to the National Press Club after the incident yesterday (Thursday). “The government meets the media. Those responsible would be taken before justice,” he said.
The Federal Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, also realized the attack and sought a detailed report of the Islamabad IGP.
When qualifying the “unacceptable” incident, the minister said that violence against journalists cannot be tolerated under any circumstance.
NPC police storm
The Islamabad police staff assaulted the NPC of the capital on Thursday night, damaging the property and subjecting journalists to violence in an unprecedented movement that caused a protest of indignation.
The eyewitnesses said that armed police officers suddenly entered the facilities of the press club, destroyed the team and physically attacked several journalists. They said that several media professionals were injured in the assault.
The journalists organized a strong protest outside the NPC after the incident. The members of political and social organizations also joined the demonstration. The protesters demanded immediate and strict measures against police staff and the officers involved to ensure that such incidents are avoided in the future.
The Federal Union of Journalists of Pakistan (PFUJ) strongly condemned the attack, with the president of the organization, Afzal Butt, which qualifies it “a direct assault on press freedom and freedom of expression.”
He announced that all media organizations would hold joint consultations to decide a collective action course. “This must be the last incident of this type,” he said.
