A senior Pakistan journalist was reportedly assaulted by unidentified men in Lahore on Friday night while he was returning home. The assault on Ayaz Amir, 73, according to local reports, came a day after he called Pakistan’s Army generals “property dealers”.
The journalist said he had been returning home from work when his car was intercepted by unidentified men, who dragged him out of the car and beat him. Amir had been coming back from his office after recording his television show for Pakistan-based Tv channel Dunya News when the incident took place.
Amir, speaking to local media, said the men whose faces were covered with masks not only hit him and tore his clothes. They also took away his cellphone and wallet and left the scene when people started gathering on the busy road.
Former Pak prime minister Imran Khan condemned the incident. In a tweet, he wrote: “I condemn in strongest terms the violence against senior journalist Ayaz Amir today in Lahore. Pakistan descending into the worst kind of fascism with violence and fake FIRs against journalists, opposition politicians, and citizens. When the state loses all moral authority it resorts to violence.”
Journalists, lawyer bodies, and rights activists condemned the assault.
“Supreme Court of Pakistan needs to take suo moto (cognizance) of this terrorism against one of the most respected, non-controversial media figures. Ayyaz Amir is around 73 years of age! One of the most respected English columnists Pakistan has ever created! HRCP and Dawn and civil society must stand,” senior journalist Moeed Peerzada tweeted.
The attack on the journalist is said to have followed his speech at a seminar in Islamabad on the ‘Regime Change and its Fallout on Pakistan’ on Thursday. During his speech, Amir targeted the military establishment for its role in Pakistan’s politics and also referred to the Army generals as “property dealers”. He had reportedly also suggested removing the portraits of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal and replacing them with the “property dealers”.Imran Khan was also among the attendees of the seminar.
Amir – whose speech had gone viral on social media – had also made a veiled dig at Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying he was into his sixth year of tenure and looking for another extension. Among other things, he also pointed out the mistakes of the previous government led by Imran Khan which collapsed in April after losing the trust vote.
Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz has sought a report on the assault of the senior journalist and ordered that the culprits be arrested at the earliest.