Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) is alarmed at the armed attack on journalist and blogger Asad Ali Toor in his home on May 23, 2021 in Pakistan\u2019s capital Islamabad .<\/p>\n

PPF urges the authorities to investigate the attack on Toor and to ensure that those behind it are held accountable. The attack on Toor provides yet another case of the restrictive and dangerous environment media in Pakistan is forced to operate under.\u00a0 The assault on yet another journalist is a reminder of the urgent need for the government to enact effective journalists safety legislation and to ensure that it is implemented to the fullest extent.<\/p>\n

Toor was attacked by three unidentified individuals who had barged into his apartment and tied him up.\u00a0 In a video statement<\/a>, a visibly shaken Toor recalled the incident in which he was repeatedly hit on his elbows with the butt of a pistol. \u00a0 Toor said at some point he started screaming and the attacker tried to shut his mouth and told him to stay quiet.\u00a0 Toor said that he realized that there was no point in staying quiet and he continued screaming, after which the intruders ran out.<\/p>\n

Toor said that he walked with difficulty with his feet tied, opened his apartment door and came out and started screaming for someone to help him after which some people from the building came and untied him.\u00a0 In CCTV footage<\/a>, Toor can be seen in the stairway area of an apartment, when people come to untie him.<\/p>\n

In September 2020, a criminal complaint was registered against Toor for posting negative propaganda against the state, Pakistani institutions and the Pakistan Army on his social media account. \u00a0 In November, the Lahore High Court dismissed the case against him to be \u201cinfructuous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the attack on Toor. \u00a0 In a statement, PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi said that this was the second time Toor was being harassed and beaten.\u00a0 \u201cThis cowardly act of beating and harassing an independent journalist shows anxiety of anti-media agents who are bent upon denying freedom of press and free speech and expression in the country,\u201d they said. The PFUJ leadership said that this attack \u201cseems to be designed to further suppress journalists\u2019 community ” as earlier former PEMRA chairman Absar Alam had been attacked. \u00a0 PFUJ demanded the immediate arrest of\u00a0 the culprits and the initiation of a probe by a judge of a high court.<\/p>\n

A protest has been called outside the National Press Club in Islamabad. Speaking to PPF, NPC President Shakeel Anjum said they strongly condemn the incident and demand the speedy arrest of the accused.\u00a0 \u201cAction should also be taken against those [on] whom the law does not apply,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Senior Superintendent of Police Operations Islamabad Mustafa Tanveer told PPF that a First Information Report has been filed at the Shalimar Police Station and the case is under investigation.<\/p>\n

Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari condemned the attack and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaduhry was in touch with police to take \u201cnecessary action\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) is alarmed at the armed attack on journalist and blogger Asad Ali Toor in his home on May 23, 2021 in Pakistan\u2019s capital Islamabad . PPF urges the authorities to investigate the attack on Toor and to ensure that those behind it are held accountable. The attack on Toor provides yet [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10470,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10317\/revisions\/10470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}