But as protesters surged forward for the umpteenth time, pelting police with stones and whatever they could lay their hands on, fresh orders made their way to the uniformed contingents of policemen deployed at the venue.

“I was standing on the sidelines, filming the protesters being beaten up when I heard the cry ‘media walan nu maro’ (beat the media people),” Samaa cameraman Khurram Fayyaz told Dawn.

Khurram was one of the first to be attacked. He recounted how, after an initial scuffle that saw his camera broken, he managed to escape in the direction of DSNG vans parked near D-Chowk.

At least 28 mediapersons bear the brunt of police high-handedness “I took refuge in a Dunya TV van, but the driver refused to help and the pursuing policemen caught up with me. They pulled me out of the van and let me have it,” he said as he showed us his back, which was black and blue with baton marks.

Khurram’s head was also bashed in and he was bleeding profusely as he was brought to Pims. He suffered a concussion and needed eight stitches to close the wound.

Samaa TV’s Ajab Khan was also attacked in the melee early on Saturday morning. He was shifted to the Polyclinic. When Dawn tried to reach him, a close friend answered his cellphone and said Ajab had been shifted to Shifa Hospital for a CT scan of his skull, which was badly injured.

Aamir Saeed Abbasi, a Samaa TV reporter, was beaten while trying to rescue fellow cameraman Awais Qazi. Qazi was also filming police beating protesters when he was attacked.

The Waqt TV team came directly in the line of teargas shelling. Cameramen Atif Yousaf and Imran Iqbal, DSNG operator Muhammad Zahid and their driver Jameel Kiyani all fainted from excessive teargas inhalation and only recovered hours later.

Over half a dozen DawnNews cameramen and reporters were also targeted by the police in their high-handed rampage against mediapersons. Hasnain Raza, Assignment Editor at DawnNews’ Islamabad desk, said cameraman Kashif Abbasi’s arm was broken; Noshad Abbasi was baton charged and also received injuries from teargas shells that hit him directly, while reporters Yasir Malik and Samar Abbas were also affected by tear gas.

“Ishfaque Hussain, who had been called in from the Peshawar bureau, was hit with plastic pellets and rubber bullets, while cameramen Imran Chaudhry and Mansoor Ahmed were also assaulted while covering police brutality against PTI and PAT supporters,” he said.

Express News’ Amir Alam, who was carrying his injured cameraman Majid Shah with one arm and flashing his press card with the other, was also attacked.

“The police just pelted us with stones,” he said. He was then beaten severely with batons and received injuries to the head, knee and hands. Express News cameraman Usman Afzal and driver Bakht Zameen were also hurt in clashes with police on Sunday.

Aaj TV’s Rana Tariq was lucky to escape following a near-deadly dose of teargas. But his fellow cameramen Haroon Khurshid and Ghulam Ali were not so lucky. They were surrounded by police and severely beaten as well.

ARY News cameramen Asif Abdullah and Iqbal Zeb and Dunya TV staffers Syed Essa Naqvi, Hassan Ayub, DSNG engineer Adnan and cameraman Anjum Fatemi were also injured in Sunday’s violence against journalists in the Red Zone.

Most of these mediapersons were rushed to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday morning. Tahir Imran, a journalist who was at Pims when mediapersons were first brought to the hospital, offered some hope.

“One of the cameramen, Noshad, told me that he was rescued by an official of the Islamabad police, who pleaded with the men beating him to stop.”

DAWN

According to the victim – Babar Malik from ARY News – he was covering the PML-N rally brought out by its local leaders when a group of political activists attacked him.

“First the angry activists abused the television channel and its anchors, and then they started beating me. Although I was not injured seriously, I suffered various bruises,” the journalist said.

He said that the local PML-N leaders, Hanif Abbasi and Ziaullah Shah, reached the scene and rescued him. The victim demanded the government to provide security to the on-duty journalists as they cannot perform their duties under such circumstances.

Shaukat Perveez, the former president of PFUJ and advisor of International Federation of Journalists, strongly condemned the attack on Babar Malik and demanded the Punjab chief minister and the prime minister to take notice of such incidents and avert any mishaps in the future.

He said that such attacks on on-duty journalists had already been witnessed in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rally in the past.

“A journalist’s job is to report the event. If anyone has any reservation on his or her story, they should complain to the editorial staff of the news agency. But it is unjustified to attack and beat the journalists,” Perveez said.

DAWN

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Secretariat, known for obsessive secrecy about the attendance of MNAs, has allegedly doctored the record of an MNA who is facing criminal charges of beating a journalist in Lahore.

The MNA was shown to be present in the assembly on the date and time when the incident took place miles away in Lahore. The forgery, likely to be established due to undeniable evidence, will not only raise serious questions about the authenticity of the NA record, it may project the assembly as a sanctuary for alleged criminals who can hide behind its wall after committing offences.

MQM MNA Tahira Asif hurled abuses at a journalist Akmal Ghumman in Lahore and then got him thrashed black and blue by her bodyguard for parking an out-of-order car near a petrol pump. Now she has dissociated herself from the incident claiming that she was present in the assembly session that day.

Although the police are reluctant to register an FIR against the sitting MNA, the telephone record they acquired from the cellular company gave credence to Akmal’s claim. The record, also shared with The News, shows that Tahira was in the range of the cellular company’s tower situated at Grace Hotel that is near the place where the brawl occurred.

Tahira confirmed to The News that the phone number (whose record was obtained) is only used by her but insisted on her presence in Islamabad that day along with the cell phone.As the police dilly-dally on registering the FIR despite a court order, Akmal, a senior producer of Radio Pakistan, has been suspended by DG Radio Samina Waqar for daring to go public on his alleged maltreatment.

The friendship of Tahira Asif and Samina Waqar dates back to their performing last year’s Hajj together that followed the suspension of Akmal. Tahira previously made headlines by slapping a Motorway Police official some years ago after he stopped her car for violating traffic rules. The cop, like Akmal, was later suspended.

Tahira was PML-Q MNA in the last assembly and later switched to MQM that returned her to parliament on a reserved seat.Incidentally, DG Radio Samina Waqar is also in the headlines these days on corruption charges relating to the alleged non-transparency in awarding contracts to her favorites.

Tahira’s clash with Akmal occurred on September 27, 2013. The incident took place at about 11a.m when Akmal’s car broke down near Shimla Hill while he was on his way to the office. As he was discussing the problem with the mechanic and turned the warning light on, a white Prado (LEC-13-356) emerged.

Tahira Asif who was inside rolled down the window glass and allegedly started rebuking Akmal for parking the car on the road. He initially sought pardon and explained the reason. As Tahira kept hurling abuses, the situation turned ugly as it followed heated exchanges from both sides. Two guards accompanying Tahira got off the Prado and started beating Akmal. His glasses broke down and he received multiple injuries on his face. The accused then issued serious threats and fled away, reads the petition Akmal filed with district and session judge praying the police be ordered to register FIR, which has not been done to date.

The incident received wide media coverage. A private TV channel flashed the news and interviewed Akmal that followed his suspension from Radio Pakistan, which punished him for going public as Tahira brought the issue to the attention of DG Radio.

DG Radio confirmed to The News the suspension of Akmal after the complaint lodged by MNA Tahira Asif. Describing the grounds of suspension, she said Akmal should not have gone on air about the incident.

Tahira Asif insisted while talking to The News that she was in Islamabad and no such incident took place. However, she confirmed that Prado and the cell phone are owned by her.

Akmal contradicted her version of the story and defended his position by producing the record of her phone number acquired by police that established her presence at that date and time in Lahore.

He challenged her to show the video footage of her presence in the assembly session in support of her claimed presence in Islamabad that day. The News also asked Tahira to get the record of her phone number determining her location in line with the assembly’s attendance record. She however refused to do so.

The News also attempted a number of times to approach the concerned officer of NA Secretariat Muhammad Mushtaq (deputy secretary legislation) but failed. The message and phone number was dropped to his staff who earlier excused that he was taking another phone call and will return the call but he did not.

The News