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.