May 31, 2021
Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) calls on the relevant authorities to investigate the physical assault of three journalists in the Mirpur Mathelo city in Ghotki district of the Sindh province. We call upon the officials to register a first information report (FIR) and initiate legal proceedings into the incident.
On May 28, Mirpur Mathelo Police tortured Awaz TV reporter Latif Veesar, Awaz TV cameraman Khalid Veesar and Times News’ Barkat Mirani, who were allegedly reporting on the police’s private torture cells.
Following the attack, the journalists were shifted to DHQ Hospital Mirpur Mathelo for medical assistance.
A sit-in was staged by journalists in front of the office of the senior superintendent of police in support of the journalists who came under attack. SSP Ghotki Umar Tufail negotiated with the protesters and arrested the policeman who allegedly tortured the journalists.
THIS is with reference to the report ‘Target on their backs’ and its digital version ‘Media in chains: the cost of speaking truth to power in south Asia’ (May 3).
The reports erroneously said, among other things, that 60 of the 140 members of the Sukkur Press Club (SPC) are “not really journalists”.
The reports have also used negative terminology for the local journalists and have levelled allegations without much in name of proof.
Salim Sahito
Sukkur Union of Journalists
The said comments in the story were quotes from a named local journalist. As an institution, ‘Dawn’ recognises the role played by the Sukkur Union of Journalists in the struggle for press freedom. Editor
IBA Sukkur scandal victim claims coerced to accuse wrong person
National
May 7, 2021
SUKKUR: The student’s video scandal accusing some administration officials and faculty members of the IBA University, Sukkur, has taken a new stance, saying she was coerced into wrongly accusing an innocent person.
A student of IBA University Sukkur, Bakhtawar Soomro, had levelled allegations against Hussain Siddiqui, the son of former VC Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui. Addressing a press conference on Thursday at the Sukkur Press Club, she retracted her allegations and alleged she was forced to do so by the IBA’s Investigation Committee and SSP Sukkur Irfan Sammo, who threatened to kill her family if she did not name Siddiqui as the main accused.
Illustration by Reem Khurshid
FILTHY curses, and the gleam of a pistol. That is about all the barber says he knows of the attack on Ajay Lalwani as the journalist sat getting a shave from him on the evening of March 17 in Saleh Pat, Sukkur district. The street outside was in darkness because of a power cut; a couple of emergency bulbs provided the only light inside. “I heard someone order me to move to the back of my shop,” recalls Khalil Ahmed the barber. Then came the gunshots. Two bullet holes can be seen in the barber’s chair where Ajay sat. Witnesses saw two men flee from the scene on a motorbike. Three more individuals waiting in a car outside sped away while firing in the air. “The thana is within walking distance, but the cops took half an hour to arrive,” says a source within the police.