RAWALPINDI: After investigating the issue, City Police Station has registered an FIR under Sections of 506, 147 and 149 against Town Municipal Administration (TMA) Rawal Town officials as they thrashed The News reporter Khalid Iqbal. Police were continuously raiding to hunt the accused down but culprits went underground after registration of FIR here on Thursday.

Station House Officer (SHO) Mustafa Niazi along with Sub-Inspector Abdul Latif, who is also Investigation Officer (IO) of this case, and some other police officials investigated the matter.

Inspector Nazir Zada, Pervez Mughal and others are allegedly involved in thrashing the journalist on the occasion. The SHO and IO told The News, “We would arrest the culprits soon. We are continuously making raids on different localities to arrest them.”

Town Municipal Officer Rawal Town Mir Akmal, who is also inquiry in-charge on behalf of DCO Sajid Zafar Daal, said, “I am also investigating this matter. We will decide the matter on merit and we will take strict departmental action against responsible people.”

After failing to comply with the Lahore High Court orders and purge Raja Bazaar and its adjoining business centres of the city from encroachment mafia completely, in a sheer act of high handedness, the anti-encroachment staff of Tehsil Municipal Administration, Rawal Town, Wednesday manhandled the journalist when he asked them about existence of encroachments despite lapse of court-set deadline. When Khalid Iqbal raised the question with Town Officer (Regulation) Malik Tauseef Ahmed, the concerned anti-enforcement inspector of Raja Bazaar, Nazeer Zada, along with other inspectors, entered the room and started arguments with the reporter.

In the meantime, the inspectors exchanged harsh words and allegedly beat up the reporter in presence of Town Officer who allegedly didn’t even interfere to cool down the situation. The encroachment inspectors allegedly threatened the reporter of dire consequences, if he dared to file reports regarding encroachments.

Meanwhile, Press Council of Pakistan took notice of the manhandling of the reporter by the Inspectors of Tehsil Municipal Administration Rawal Town Rawlapindi.

The PCP believes that such acts of violence against the press hinder the free flow of information and, therefore, be checked and contained. The PCP requested the concerned authorities to look into the incident and a report may be provided to the Council at an early date.

The News

The working staff of Geo, The News and Jang faced the worst kind of fear and panic as PTI and PAT supporters continuously pelted stones at the Jang Building located on Fazl-e-Haq Road.

The windows of the offices in Islamabad were broken as stone were pelted by PTI and PAT supporters.

The Geo building was surrounded by PTI and PAT activists holding the flags of their parties.

The angry supporters of PTI and PAT were raising slogans against Geo and the Jang Group, as party workers were poured onto the scene.

PTI and PAT workers were trying to force the Geo staff to telecast news according to the wishes of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, as both the leaders wanted it to flash the news of the killing of a woman protester in teargas shelling. However, the news could not be confirmed from independent sources so Geo refused to telecast it. The mobs threatened the Geo staff that if they did not do so, PTI and PAT workers would storm the Geo office immediately.

Not a single police official was present in front of the Geo, Jang and The News offices to control the situation while the PTI and PAT workers continued pelting stones at the building till the filing of this report.

The News