Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the abduction-cum-arrest of a journalist from Bolan, Ghulam Farooq Jatoi and the Levies attempt to prevent media from covering the arrival of Chief Secretary Balochistan in Kohlu district.
President of PFUJ Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi, in a statement on Sunday said that the security forces raided the house of journalist Ghulam Farooq Jatoi, who is a Member of the Press Club Dadhar, Bolan, by violating the sanctity of his house and arresting him. The journalist’s whereabouts are untraceable and it is feared that he might become a victim of the enforced disappearance, the PFUJ leaders said.
Both the leaders demanded of the provincial government to recover Mr. Jatoi at the earliest, adding if there was any case against him, the journalist should be produced before the court of law. They said that a media person could not be punished for covering an event or reporting a story. “This tantamount to intimidating the journalist community and preventing them from performing their professional duties.”
The PFUJ leaders warned the government against detaining Ghulam Farooq Jatoi in an illegal detention and vowed to give a countrywide protest call in case the missing media person is not recovered.
Zulfiqar and Zaidi observed that Balochistan has become a difficult place for media persons to work as the provincial government is creating hindrances for them. In another instance, a local journalist was prevented from performing his professional duties in Kohlu. “We note with grave concern that a local journalist, Nazar Baloch Qalandari was prevented by the Levies personnel from covering the arrival of Chief Secretary Balochistan in district Kohlu.”
The PFUJ leaders demanded of the Balochistan government to take action against those Levies personnel who prevented Mr. Qalandari from performing his professional duties.
