Reporter Who Exposed Lynching Brutally Assaulted

Reporter Who Exposed Lynching Brutally Assaulted In Pakistan

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is horrified to learn of the brutal attack on Hafiz Mohammad Imran, a reporter for the Duniya TV news channel, by an unidentified mob in the city of Sialkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Imran was intercepted outside his home in the Ghauspura-Hajipura area of Sialkot on the evening of August 29 by a group that arrived on motorcycles, according to the IFJ affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

The reporter was violently assaulted and pushed against a wall before a crowd gathered, forcing his assailants to flee the scene. Imran suffered fractures to his arms and injuries to his shoulders.

“The IFJ is shocked by the brutality of the attack on Hafiz Mohammad Imran and demands that the assault be swiftly investigated and the perpetrators of this violence feel the full force of the law,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

The IFJ is informed that the attack on Imran may have been related to his role in capturing TV footage of a brutal public lynching of two brothers in Sialkot city on August 15.

The coverage of the murders compelled Pakistan’s authorities to respond. An investigation into the lynching by a specially empowered team of the city’s police is believed to have submitted its report on the same day that Imran was attacked.

According to media reports, two local police officials at the sub-inspector level, Gulzar Khan and Abdul Rasheed, have since surrendered before the law after being named by the special investigation for negligence.

The IFJ is informed that Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik had taken a personal interest in this case and assured Imran of all necessary protection when he visited Sialkot on August 22.

PFUJ affiliate the Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) has written to Pakistan’s Interior Minister and the Chief Minister of Punjab Province, reminding them that Imran’s coverage of the August 15 lynching was the key to alerting law enforcement authorities, and reassuring the families of the two brothers who were killed that justice would prevail.

“The IFJ joins with its affiliate the PFUJ in condemning this incident in the strongest terms, and reminds those responsible that journalists will not be intimidated by violent acts that crudely attempt to curtail free and independent reporting of the news,” White said.

ENDS