Recent decades have seen countless acres of land in cities and even in the rural areas taken over to satisfy the never-flagging demand to either convert its use or parcel it out for sale.

Historical buildings have been torn down to make way for malls and plazas.

And while it is unarguable that development must take place and the needs of a burgeoning citizenry met, the problem is that in too many instances, the land acquisition decision is based on dubious logic and designed to serve the desires of a select few.

This pattern seems under way yet again in the finalisation of the Balochistan government’s plan, as reported recently, to take over 64 acres of land owned by Radio Pakistan in Quetta which houses its supplementary station and some machinery and medium-wave and short-wave transmission towers.

When the land on Sariab Road was allotted to Radio Pakistan in 1964, it was fairly remote but, by now, the expanding city has caught up with it. It is being said that the location will be used to construct a sports complex and a park, an aim that is laudable if it is ever achieved. Yet is the shutting down of this station the best way forward? There are a few points to consider.

First, this station is being used to broadcast a number of programmes in local languages, and their loss would be inflicting a needless blow on Radio Pakistan’s image, to say nothing of leaving audiences bereft.

In its heyday, Radio Pakistan built its reputation and popularity on not just its reach but also its mandate to broadcast, as a public-sector entity, material that would not be commercially successful.

Second, taking down the transmission towers would hamper the Quetta station’s broadcast range. Third, while building a sports complex has the contours of political mileage, the fact remains that the government-constructed Shahwani Sports Stadium is located close to this Radio Pakistan installation.

It has the capacity to be further developed, in addition to there being available other large tracts of government-owned land on roads linking to Sariab Road, which can be used for the same purpose.

In fact, creative investments need to be made in this station and Radio Pakistan itself, so that the full potential can be mined of what is now a giant in decline.

Dawn

The committee in a meeting held here on Thursday urged the government and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to play their role to solve the problem.

Cable operators in Quetta and various areas in the province stopped c of almost all news channels on Wednesday evening.

Speakers at the meeting said that if any organisation had any complaint it should approach the proper media forum to redress its grievances to resolve the problem amicably.

DAWN

Chief Minister Dr Malik informed the lawmakers about his visit to the hospital to enquire after Geo News senior anchorperson Hamid Mir who was attacked in Karachi last Saturday.

Leader of opposition called for immediate arrest of the culprits in a bid to avoid any further confusion. None of the 11 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) was taken up and the House deferred the Question Hour to discuss the murderous attack on senior journalist.

Journalists walked out of the House in protest against the attack. Two provincial ministers and a female lawmaker of NP approached the journalists and convinced them to return to the House, which they did after five minutes.

Tabled by the leader of opposition, the House unanimously adopted a resolution, condemning targeted attacks on working journalists across the country and demanding arrest of those involved in such heinous crimes.

The House took up an adjournment motion related to the prevailing law and order in the province. It was agreed that the issue would be discussed in any of the next sittings. — PPI

Our correspondents add: In Pakpattan, PPP leader Rao Jamil Hashim Tuesday said the attack on Geo News anchor Hamid Mir was an attack on democracy.

He said this while addressing a protest meeting at the press club here. He said Hamid Mir was a brave man who rendered great services for journalism. He said an insecure environment for the working journalists was not a good omen and demanded immediate, fair and transparent inquiry into the incident.

In Jauharabad, journalists staged a demonstration against the attack on Geo News anchorperson Hamid Mir. Traders, lawyers and civil society activists also participated in the demonstration and condemned the attack and demanded an inquiry.

In Bahawalpur, Apca Bahawalpur chapter activists Tuesday took out a rally to express solidarity with senior journalist Hamid Mir.

The rally, led by Apca Punjab General Secretary Fakharur Rehman, started from District Council Office and after passing through Railway Road, Chowk Seraiki and Milad Chowk culminated at Chowk Fawara.

The News

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has announced that a judicial commission will be set up to investigate the killing of journalists in the province over the past four years.

He also announced payment of compensation to the families of the slain journalists. More than 30 journalists have been killed in Quetta, Khuzdar, Kalat, Hub, Turbat, Gwadar, Pasni and Panjgur since 2009.

The chief minister made the announcement in the Balochistan Assembly when journalists returned to the press gallery after staging a walkout in protest against a firing incident in Karachi in which three employees of a TV channel were killed.

Balochistan Union of Journalists chief Irfan Saeed urged the assembly to condemn the attack and put pressure on the Sindh government for early arrest of killers.

The chief minister condemned the incident and said that members of the commission would be appointed after consulting the assembly members.

DAWN

QUETTA: The hollow-cheeked father of the slain television cameraman, Imran Sheikh, bursts into tears while narrating the ordeal of his family. Imran Sheikh was killed in the line of duty during the recent bombings in Alamdar road area of the provincial capital along with Saifur Rehman of Samaa TV and Iqbal Hussain, a photographer of the NNI.

“I always thought that he would take me to my last resting place. But that was not to be,” Naseer Sheikh said in a broken voice. He said he was very happy when Imran got job as a cameraman at Samaa TV, and added that he never thought his son was in such a dangerous profession.

Imran’s two orphaned daughters, two-year-old Amna and one-year-old Hafza, were playing with dolls when we were offering fateha for the departed soul. As a father, he doted on them. “Once he came out of his house at midnight to purchase things for his daughters,” Ejaz Ahmed, an old colleague of Imran, said with tears in his eyes.

“It pains me when they speak of their father,” Kamran Sheikh, the girls’ uncle, said. Living in a mud- and brick-walled house of two rooms, the family has lost its sole breadwinner. The house is located in remote Muslim town area. Despite the growing incidents of looting in the area, Imran used to go to his house late in the night after completing his work.

Imran had been working in Samaa TV since beginning of 2008. He was considered to be one of the most talented cameramen in the city. “Ironically, Imran used to advise us to avoid going to dangerous spots,” Shehzad Anwar, a DawnNews cameraman, said.

“‘Please cover explosions from a distance and zoom in the visuals,’ he used to tell us,” Shehzad remarked.

Imran died when the second explosion hit the Alamdar road area on Jan 10. TV channels reported his death which was followed up by the news of Saifur Rehman’s killing. He worked as reporter for the same channel.

Saif was initially missing and the authorities confirmed his death four hours after the explosion. The intensity of the blast had damaged their bodies and faces and they could not be easily recognised.

“They are all such cruel people that they are not showing my son’s face to me,” Naseer Sheikh was quoted as blurting out at Imran’s funeral.

Over 24 journalists have fallen prey to bullets and bomb blasts in different parts of violence-plagued Balochistan over the past six years. The murderers are still at large and the authorities appear helpless.

While reporting on such heinous crimes, journalists live through a deep sense of insecurity. Many media organisations, whether print or electronic, don’t train cameramen or reporters to report from a safe distance.

Over 26 journalists were injured during different suicide attacks, bomb explosions and firing because they had not been instructed to avoid standing on the crime scene after its clearance by law-enforcement personnel.

Many of us know by now that one blast may be followed by another one and the second one is often more deadly than the first.

Two cameramen, Ejaz Raisani and Arif Malik, were killed in the same incidents. The rating race between the channels puts lives of reporters, cameramen and DSNG staff in peril.

A lesson should be learnt from the story of Imran Sheikh, Saifur Rehman and Iqbal Hussain. The families of the deceased are the worst sufferers.

Pakistan Press Foundation

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a militant group has claimed the responsibility for blasts which were targeted at the Hazara Shiite community.

Imran Shaikh, cameraman for “Samaa TV”, Saif ur Rehman, reporter for the same television station and Mohammad Iqbal photographer of NNI news agency were covering the scene of the suicide bomb blast when the second blast occurred, killing them on the spot. was critically injured in the blast and died later in a local hospital.

Iqbal’ s brother Muhammad Hasan, porter of Independent News Pakistan news agency; Acne Roger, cameraman for “Geo TV” and Ather, satellite engineer for “Samaa TV” were injured in the blast. The condition of Roger is stated to be in serious but stable condition. Satellite vans of number of television stations were also damaged.

A reporter of “Samaa TV” told PPF that the suicide bomber came to the basement of a building of snooker club in an area inhabited by the Hazara Shia community and blew himself up at about 9:00 PM. A few minutes his car which was parked outside the building was blown up remotely.

Police said that more than 100 kg of explosives were used in the car bomb. Over 100 persons were killed and more than 200 injured in the blasts.

Shaikh is survived by his wife and two daughters, Rehman leaves behind his wife and three sons while Iqbal was unmarried. The management of Samaa TV announced Rs.1million and one year salary for each bereaved family. The Government of Pakistan has also announced Rs.1million for the bereaved families.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and journalists from all media organizations strongly condemned the killings of journalists. PFUJ staged a countrywide protest on 11th January 2013.

Pakistan Press Foundation

QUETTA: As many as 81 people were killed and 121 injured in suicide and car bomb blasts in Quetta’s Alamdar Road area on Thursday night. Earlier in the afternoon, 12 people lost their lives when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.

A cameraman and a reporter of a private news channel, a computer operator of a news agency and nine police personnel, including two senior police officers, were among the dead, while 10 army and FC personnel were injured in the blasts.

A majority of the people killed in the Alamdar Road blasts belonged to the Hazara Shia community. The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the blasts. “Eighty-one people have been killed and 120 injured, including 10 army and FC personnel, in two blasts,” Hamid Shakeel, Deputy Inspector General of Police, told Dawn.

The death toll might go up because the condition of several injured people was serious, he added.

Police sources said that the first blast took place in a snooker club on Alamdar Road when people were busy playing the game. Several people were killed or injured in the blast. “A man entered the snooker club and a powerful blast took place,” they said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide attack.

Police, workers of Edhi Trust and media teams rushed to the place soon after the first blast and started taking the injured to hospital.

A second blast took place 10 minutes after the first blast outside the snooker club when a large number of people, police and rescue workers gathered there. A majority of people were killed and injured in the second blast.

Five police personnel, including a senior police officer, and three media men also lost their lives in the second blast. Reporter Saifullah Baloch and cameraman Imran Shaikh belonged to Samaa TV, while computer operator Mohammad Iqbal worked for NNI.

Some other media men, who reached the site to cover the first blast, were also injured in the second explosion. Imran Shaikh was the third Samaa cameraman to have lost his life in the line of duty. Earlier, Ejaz Ahmed Raisani and Malik Arif had been killed in bomb blasts.

Police said that an explosive-laden car parked at the roadside was used in the second explosion. Both the blasts shook the entire provincial capital. “The building which housed the snooker club was destroyed completely, while over 50 shops and nearby houses were badly damaged,” eyewitness Khalil Ahmed said.

Two rescue workers were also killed in the blast, he added. Soon after the second blast, power supply was disrupted in the area as wires snapped. “Bodies littered a large area,” another eyewitness Banaras Khan told Dawn, adding that several media men were missing. A DSNG of Geo TV was damaged in the second explosion. A cameraman received injuries while other staffers remained unhurt.

Rescue workers and security personnel faced difficulty in collecting bodies and in shifting the injured to hospital. An emergency was declared at Civil Hospital and the Combined Military Hospital. Most of the injured and bodies were brought to CMH. The condition of at least 10 of the injured was stated to be critical.

“The death toll might increase,” hospital officials expressed fears. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lashkar-i-Jhangvi told media from an unknown place that his organisation had carried out the two explosions. Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood confirmed at a press conference the killing of 81 people and injuring of 121 in the two blasts.

“A doomsday scenario was at the blast site. Bodies were lying everywhere.” Mr Mehmood said that nine police officials had lost their lives. Earlier in the afternoon, at least 12 people, including an FC soldier and a child, were killed and over 60 injured in a bomb blast before the night-time carnage shook the city.

The bomb was planted close to a parked vehicle of Frontier Corps at the crowded Bacha Khan Chowk. The blast rocked the entire city several other FC men were injured in the blast, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn, adding that the condition of at least five people was serious.

Among the injured were two women and three children. Frontier Corps officials confirmed that one soldier had been killed and 10 others injured in the blast. “We have lost one soldier in the blast and another is in critical condition,” a spokesman said.

An Afghan national, who hailed from Spin-Boldak, a border district of Afghanistan, was also killed in the blast.

The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for the blast. Its spokesman Mureed Baloch told newsmen that the blast was in revenge for Mashkay, Awaran and Bolan operations launched by FC. The area where the blast took place is a populated and busy commercial junction where thousands of people come for shopping and doing business in Baldia Plaza.

“Thousands of people were busy shopping and in doing business in Baldia Plaza and in the Bacha Khan Chowk when the blast took place,” said eyewitness Mehmood Khan, who owns a shop in the area. Police sources said that the bomb planted with a time device in a bag close to the FC vehicle went off at 3.10 pm, killing at least 10 people on the spot and injuring over 60.

Police and FC personnel cordoned off the place and took the bodies and the injured to Civil Hospital, where an emergency had been declared. Two injured, including the FC soldier, died in hospital as they had received multiple wounds.

“The target of the bomb blast was the vehicle carrying FC men and a checkpost in the area,” said Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood. He told reporters that it was a time device. “We have collected evidence from the site and investigation is in progress,” he said.

Bomb disposal squad personnel said that 20 to 25 kg of explosives had been used in the blast. Hospital sources said that 11 bodies and over 40 injured were brought to the Civil Hospital. Some of the injured had been shifted to CMH, Quetta. “We are trying to save lives of seriously injured people,” hospital officials said.

Most of the people killed in the blast were vendors and shopkeepers selling old clothes, rings, soup and other edible items outside Baldia Plaza. Two Naib Tehsildars, who came from the Taunsa town of Rajanpur district in Punjab, were also killed.

Eight of the 12 dead were identified as Naib Tehsildars Ghulam Sarwar Qaisrani and Inayatullah, Mazuddin, Ziaul Haq, Fazal Ahmed, Sher Ali, Akhtar Mohammad and Tamour Shah.A man selling fruits on a pushcart had reportedly seen a white bag near the FC vehicle and informed the paramilitary force’s personnel before the bomb exploded. However, he remained safe, sources said.

The FC vehicle and about a dozen other cars and motorcycles were destroyed in the blast. About two dozen shops were damaged while windowpanes of several buildings and offices in Baldia plaza were smashed. In 2004, an army truck was hit by a cycle bomb, killing 12 people, including security personnel.

In Sept 2010, a suicide bomber claimed over 30 lives during an Al Quds rally at Bacha Khan Chowk.

Pakistan Press Foundation

QUETTA: A local journalist and two other people were shot dead in Bolan district late on Thursday night.

Levies sources said a group of armed men intercepted a bus coming from Quetta on its way to Punjab on Quetta-Sukkur highway in the Machh area of Bolan district and kidnapped six passengers. The sources said that three of them were later gunned down when they tried to escape.

“The armed men took the three other passengers with them,” Levies Tehsildar for Mach Mir Zubair Kurd said. A truck driver passing through the area got injured when the armed men opened fire on the three passengers, he added.

The Levies force took the bodies and the injured driver to civil hospital in Machh. The Levies sources said that one of the deceased was identified as Jamshed Kharal, who had been working for a newspaper in Quetta, and others as Mohammad Kashif and Mohammad Siddique.

The names of the three passengers who were taken away could not be ascertained. The bus was going to Sadiqabad.

Pakistan Press Foundation