Justice
ABDUL WAHEED KHAN, UNITED KINGDOM
Raja Assad Hameed Abbasi, a senior reporter has been brutally murdered at his doorstep by unidentified gunmen and nobody knows whether his killers will be arrested or not? The brutal murder of a professional journalist shocked and saddened the Pakistani community living abroad. I pray Allah may give him place in heaven and courage to his family members to bear this loss. Raja Assad was a very nice and wise person and a competent reporter, a rarity in his profession. He visited the UK as a senior member of a journalist’s delegation in 2006 and he impressed every one here during his meetings, greetings and functions by his qualities, character and spoken skills very fluent in English, Urdu and Punjabi languages. I remember when I first met him and one of his colleague introduced me as the younger brother of a senior journalist Malik Mohammad Ismail. He gave me respect and shared golden-professional memories of how he started his journalistic career in a news agency where Malik Ismail was working as chief reporter. When my brother and senior journalist, Malik Mohammad Ismail Khan was brutally murdered on the midnight of October 31, 2006 under mysterious circumstances in Islamabad during Musharraf’s dictatorship, he shared our grief and sorrow. Malik Ismail’s murderers are still at large. Being Muslims we believe that death is universal truth and no body can bring back the deceased, but justice should be done. Can the democratically elected President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani or the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry provide the justice to the victim’s family?
Saturday, 18 April 2009
PAS demands special body to probe crimes against journalists
PAS demands special body to probe crimes against journalists
Saturday, March 28, 2009By Sohail Khan
IslamabadThe journalist community Friday strongly condemned the brutal murder of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi, a reporter of an English daily and demanded of the government to arrest the criminals and establish a commission to investigate such criminal acts against the newsmen.The demand was made during an emergency meeting of Press Association of Supreme Court Reporters (PAS) held here under the chairmanship of its President Nasir Iqbal.The meeting passed a unanimous resolution to condemn the heinous act against a renowned journalist. Meanwhile, the association has submitted an appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the incident that took place on Thursday night in Rawalpindi. The meeting also acknowledged the boldness and professionalism of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi and paid rich tributes to him for his active role he played for well being of the the journalist community. “The instances of attacks on journalists have increased manifold, seriously jeopardizing the function of news gathering and news reporting to keep the people of Pakistan informed,” the resolution said.It was observed that the government had failed to protect the life and liberty of journalists and the fundamental right of freedom of expression being exercised through independent media.“The Thursday night’s gruesome murder of Raja Asad Hameed who was a member of the Press Association of Supreme Court (PAS) and a senior Court Reporter has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among the eyes and ears of the society and whereas the government has failed to probe into murders of journalists in the past and prosecute the killers like in the case of senior journalists Tariq Malik, Hayatullah Khan, Ibrahim, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Musa Khan and many others.The PAS condemned the failure of the government to properly probe into the murders of journalists and arrest and prosecute the people involved in this heinous crime.It called upon the government to immediately order a judicial inquiry into the recent killing of Raja Asad Hameed, and establish a judicial commission on permanent basis to hold investigations into such crimes against the journalists.The association appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the murder of Raja Asad Hameed in particular and those of other journalists in general, which have seriously jeopardized the enforcement of all the fundamental rights due to the coercive environment created for society’s eyes and ears.Meanwhile, the PAS has decided to extensively pursue and report the investigation and prosecution into the murder of these journalists in order to keep the people informed about the level of sincerity of the government and seriousness of the legal proceedings in all such incidents.The association resolved to closely monitor the progress in all such cases.Later, the participants of the meeting prayed for the departed souls of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi and Tariq Malik and prayed to Almighty Allah to give patience and courage to the bereaved families to bear these losses.
Saturday, March 28, 2009By Sohail Khan
IslamabadThe journalist community Friday strongly condemned the brutal murder of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi, a reporter of an English daily and demanded of the government to arrest the criminals and establish a commission to investigate such criminal acts against the newsmen.The demand was made during an emergency meeting of Press Association of Supreme Court Reporters (PAS) held here under the chairmanship of its President Nasir Iqbal.The meeting passed a unanimous resolution to condemn the heinous act against a renowned journalist. Meanwhile, the association has submitted an appeal to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the incident that took place on Thursday night in Rawalpindi. The meeting also acknowledged the boldness and professionalism of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi and paid rich tributes to him for his active role he played for well being of the the journalist community. “The instances of attacks on journalists have increased manifold, seriously jeopardizing the function of news gathering and news reporting to keep the people of Pakistan informed,” the resolution said.It was observed that the government had failed to protect the life and liberty of journalists and the fundamental right of freedom of expression being exercised through independent media.“The Thursday night’s gruesome murder of Raja Asad Hameed who was a member of the Press Association of Supreme Court (PAS) and a senior Court Reporter has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity among the eyes and ears of the society and whereas the government has failed to probe into murders of journalists in the past and prosecute the killers like in the case of senior journalists Tariq Malik, Hayatullah Khan, Ibrahim, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Musa Khan and many others.The PAS condemned the failure of the government to properly probe into the murders of journalists and arrest and prosecute the people involved in this heinous crime.It called upon the government to immediately order a judicial inquiry into the recent killing of Raja Asad Hameed, and establish a judicial commission on permanent basis to hold investigations into such crimes against the journalists.The association appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the murder of Raja Asad Hameed in particular and those of other journalists in general, which have seriously jeopardized the enforcement of all the fundamental rights due to the coercive environment created for society’s eyes and ears.Meanwhile, the PAS has decided to extensively pursue and report the investigation and prosecution into the murder of these journalists in order to keep the people informed about the level of sincerity of the government and seriousness of the legal proceedings in all such incidents.The association resolved to closely monitor the progress in all such cases.Later, the participants of the meeting prayed for the departed souls of Raja Asad Hameed Abbasi and Tariq Malik and prayed to Almighty Allah to give patience and courage to the bereaved families to bear these losses.
Should we fail to avenge
Should we fail to avenge
A friend remembers Assad Hameed, a journalist recently murdered in Rawalpindi
By Ahmer Kureishi
Assad Hameed -- Raja Assad for his many friends and me -- was not my brother. He was everyone's brother. Is it possible that some of his brothers in law-enforcement agencies are dwelling on his murder even as I write this?
He was killed at his doorstep as he returned from work on the evening of March 26, 2009. What was he thinking when it caught up with him? Did he think of his mother and two-year-old daughter he was so attached to? What did he feel when he realised he will never see his child again, that she will grow up in a chaotic, lawless world without him? Did he agonise over the sheer impossibility of it? She was feet away from him, right behind that door, in the arms of her mother, who was probably aware of the stopping car expecting anything. They were so close, yet he would never expose his fears to them. Did he at all see it coming? Is it possible he saw it coming for days, maybe weeks, months, or years?
Assad brought to journalism a law degree. He was a colleague at Online, the news service, for a brief period after which he moved on to cover the crime beat for the start-up Sun newspaper. But the friendship we found in those fleeting days lasted till his death.
Assad -- a journalist to the core and one of the more prominent journalists of the city -- was killed in cold blood and nothing seems to be coming of it. Call it hasty, false allegation and I will agree with you, prove me wrong and I will be thankful. But honestly, I do not see anything coming of this assassination. Have we not seen investigation into the murder of so many journalists get nowhere?
Where, for instance, has the investigation into the killing (March 22, 2008) of Tariq Malik Javed gone? What has become of the murder (February 18, 2008) of Musa Khankhel? Where has the probe into the murder (October 31, 2006) of Malik Muhammad Ismail gone?
The circumstances of these murders vary. Assad was gunned down at his doorstep; Javed was apparently killed by robbers; Khankhel was picked up from the middle of a crowd while reporting live at the peace rally of Sufi Muhammad and his bullet-riddled body was found by the wayside hours later; Malik Ismail was bludgeoned to death with a blunt weapon, his hands tied, according to the autopsy report.
On the face of it, all these murders are unrelated, and yet, there is one thing common -- all these murders seem to be going unpunished. Nor are these the only journalists to have been killed in recent times. In 2008 alone, nine journalists had been killed, four were kidnapped and two went missing, according to a recent HRCP report.
The Committee to Protect Journalists stated on March 23, 2009 that the already murderous conditions for the press in Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, as it released its newly updated Impunity Index -- a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly while the governments fail to solve the issue. Nor are journalists the only people whose murders are going unpunished. Politicians, lawyers, social workers, doctors, diplomats, citizens, soldiers, policemen… the list is endless. The only pattern discernable is that in our country, people are being killed with impunity.
It is possible that I am oversimplifying, but I think this 'culture of murder' is a product of the mentality that the use of force can solve problems. At the root of all murder -- be it 'wholesale murder' by organised mobs, target killing by 'unknown assailants,' deliberate murder over a land dispute or impetuous killing over a verbal altercation -- is this murderous mentality that could not but flourish in a society bereft of rule of law and only in such a society.
We have made some progress towards rule of law in recent times. But have we moved back far enough from the brink to make it to safety? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, let the powerful among us remember that in a lawless society, no privilege is guaranteed. A society conditioned to condone any murder will condone any murder, there will be no exceptions. Nothing. Nothing will protect any of us unless the law protects all of us.
Should we fail to avenge
your fall
We fall, sure as death, one
and all
Sure as you have fallen,
we fall
A friend remembers Assad Hameed, a journalist recently murdered in Rawalpindi
By Ahmer Kureishi
Assad Hameed -- Raja Assad for his many friends and me -- was not my brother. He was everyone's brother. Is it possible that some of his brothers in law-enforcement agencies are dwelling on his murder even as I write this?
He was killed at his doorstep as he returned from work on the evening of March 26, 2009. What was he thinking when it caught up with him? Did he think of his mother and two-year-old daughter he was so attached to? What did he feel when he realised he will never see his child again, that she will grow up in a chaotic, lawless world without him? Did he agonise over the sheer impossibility of it? She was feet away from him, right behind that door, in the arms of her mother, who was probably aware of the stopping car expecting anything. They were so close, yet he would never expose his fears to them. Did he at all see it coming? Is it possible he saw it coming for days, maybe weeks, months, or years?
Assad brought to journalism a law degree. He was a colleague at Online, the news service, for a brief period after which he moved on to cover the crime beat for the start-up Sun newspaper. But the friendship we found in those fleeting days lasted till his death.
Assad -- a journalist to the core and one of the more prominent journalists of the city -- was killed in cold blood and nothing seems to be coming of it. Call it hasty, false allegation and I will agree with you, prove me wrong and I will be thankful. But honestly, I do not see anything coming of this assassination. Have we not seen investigation into the murder of so many journalists get nowhere?
Where, for instance, has the investigation into the killing (March 22, 2008) of Tariq Malik Javed gone? What has become of the murder (February 18, 2008) of Musa Khankhel? Where has the probe into the murder (October 31, 2006) of Malik Muhammad Ismail gone?
The circumstances of these murders vary. Assad was gunned down at his doorstep; Javed was apparently killed by robbers; Khankhel was picked up from the middle of a crowd while reporting live at the peace rally of Sufi Muhammad and his bullet-riddled body was found by the wayside hours later; Malik Ismail was bludgeoned to death with a blunt weapon, his hands tied, according to the autopsy report.
On the face of it, all these murders are unrelated, and yet, there is one thing common -- all these murders seem to be going unpunished. Nor are these the only journalists to have been killed in recent times. In 2008 alone, nine journalists had been killed, four were kidnapped and two went missing, according to a recent HRCP report.
The Committee to Protect Journalists stated on March 23, 2009 that the already murderous conditions for the press in Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, as it released its newly updated Impunity Index -- a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly while the governments fail to solve the issue. Nor are journalists the only people whose murders are going unpunished. Politicians, lawyers, social workers, doctors, diplomats, citizens, soldiers, policemen… the list is endless. The only pattern discernable is that in our country, people are being killed with impunity.
It is possible that I am oversimplifying, but I think this 'culture of murder' is a product of the mentality that the use of force can solve problems. At the root of all murder -- be it 'wholesale murder' by organised mobs, target killing by 'unknown assailants,' deliberate murder over a land dispute or impetuous killing over a verbal altercation -- is this murderous mentality that could not but flourish in a society bereft of rule of law and only in such a society.
We have made some progress towards rule of law in recent times. But have we moved back far enough from the brink to make it to safety? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, let the powerful among us remember that in a lawless society, no privilege is guaranteed. A society conditioned to condone any murder will condone any murder, there will be no exceptions. Nothing. Nothing will protect any of us unless the law protects all of us.
Should we fail to avenge
your fall
We fall, sure as death, one
and all
Sure as you have fallen,
we fall
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