(PPF/IFEX) – Police in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad resorted to a baton charge on journalists covering the suicide bomb blast outside a five-star hotel on 25 January 2007. Fifteen journalists suffered injuries, including wounds to the head. The incident occurred when an assistant superintendent of police ordered dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen covering […]
(PPF/IFEX) – Police in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad resorted to a baton charge on journalists covering the suicide bomb blast outside a five-star hotel on 25 January 2007. Fifteen journalists suffered injuries, including wounds to the head.
The incident occurred when an assistant superintendent of police ordered dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen covering the incident to immediately leave the scene. The journalists tried to convince the police officer that they were performing their professional duties and were in no way hindering the job of the law enforcement officers or the investigators. The police officer refused to listen to the journalists’ arguments and ordered the police personnel to remove them. The police then beat the journalists indiscriminately with batons and rifle butts, and also punched and kicked them.
The journalists staged an impromptu protest and warned they would hold a countrywide protest against the Islamabad police if action was not taken against those involved in the incident. The chief commissioner of Islamabad has appointed a senior police officer to conduct an enquiry into the incident.
