By: KeerthiMohan
For the second time in a week, nearly 100 protesters on Friday besieged the office of a Pakistani newspaper, chanting slogans against the organisation and setting copies of its editions on fire, for publishing a news report in which the London Bridge attacker was identified as a “man of Pakistani origin”.
The Dawn newspaper in its headline had identified Usman Khan, a convicted Islamist terrorist from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who stabbed two people to death in a terror attack on London Bridge on November 29, as “UK national of Pakistani origin, unlike many other local dailies which said he was born and brought up in Britain and had no link with Pakistan.
Nearly 100 people arrived in vans and gathered outside the newspaper’s office and besieged Dawn’s Islamabad bureau — the second time this week — and chanted slogans against the media group and set copies of the newspaper on fire, the paper reported.
Police arrived at the scene but the protesters dispersed on their own after about 40 minutes, it said.
“Yet another orchestrated demo against Dawn outside its office in Islamabad. Same lot, threatening tone, bigger in number & have blocked entrance. We have informed police & have told them it’s their duty to protect our staff & property. Let’s hope someone from govt will intervene!!” Dawn Editor Zaffar Abbas tweeted.
“They have just dispersed after burning some copies of Dawn,” Abbas said, adding, “Everyone has a right to protest as long as they are not violent.”
The International Press Institute (IPI) condemned the “threatening demonstrations”.
“Pakistan must guarantee the safety of its journalists,” it said in a statement.
Friday’s protest today took place a few hours after the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights directed Islamabad police to look into the siege of Dawn’s Islamabad offices on Monday.
A mob had staged a demonstration on Monday against the publication of the news report on the origin of the London Bridge attacker.
The angry mob, carrying banners and chanting slogans against the newspaper, remained outside the office building for nearly three hours, besieging the premises and making the staffers hostage.
A day later on Tuesday, dozens of people staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club against the newspaper and threatened its staffers.
They also threatened to besiege the offices of the media group if “prompt action was not taken against the management and outlets of the organisation”.
The siege was condemned by media bodies, journalists, lawmakers and rights groups.
Prime minister’s aide Firdous Ashiq Awan and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also condemned the protest.
Global media watchdogs — Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — called on Pakistani authorities to condemn the besieging of the Dawn office and to prevent demonstrations against the newspaper from turning violent.
Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said: “This show of force constitutes yet another absolutely unacceptable act of intimidation towards Pakistan’s leading daily.”
(PTI)
