The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday issued a condemnation over the “assault on journalists by Islamabad police” at the National Press Club.
“HRCP strongly condemns the raid on the National Press Club and [the] assault on journalists by the Islamabad police,” the rights group wrote in a post on X. “We demand an immediate inquiry and those responsible brought to book.”
Visuals aired on DawnNewsTV showed policemen attacking journalists on the press club premises.
Journalists across the country condemned the incident, calling it shameful and claiming that police acted like “thugs”.
Renowned journalist Hamid Mir wrote about the incident on X, stating that police were trying to arrest members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAC) and that they “targeted journalists present in the cafeteria”.
Meanwhile, journalist Matiullah Jan condemned the incident in a post on X, deeming the incident “extremely shameful and condemnable”.
“This incident is [a product] of the incompetence and cowardice of the club administration,” Jan wrote. “The press club is the home of journalists, where it is disgraceful for the police to barge into the cafeteria with batons and attack people.
Anas Mallick, who works with TV channel Asia One, alleged that police had raided the club to arrest Kashmiri journalists covering a “call to protest” by the JAAC, adding that the police were “acting like thugs”.
Zebunnisa Burki, an editor at The News daily, called visuals emerging from the raid “insane” and added that journalists were being attacked by police inside the press club itself.
More to follow