LAHORE: Unidentified assailants attacked senior journalist Ayaz Amir when he was returning home from office on Abbot Road here Friday night.
According to details, the senior journalist was on his way back home from his office on Abbot Road when six unidentified assailants came in a car, stopped Ayaz Amir’s car and started beating the senior journalist and his driver.
The assailants also snatched his wallet and mobile phone. After torturing the senior journalist, the accused fled the scene in the vehicle.
Journalist Tariq Habib shared a picture of Ayaz Amir on Twitter and wrote: “On his return after program on Dunya TV, senior analyst Ayaz Amir Sahib and his driver were assaulted by unknown people.”
دنیا ٹیو پر پروگرام ختم کرنے کے واپسی پر سینئر تجزیہ کار ایاز امیر صاحب پر نامعلوم افراد کا حملہ۔ ایاز امیر صاحب اور ڈرائیور پر تشدد۔
ایاز امیر صاحب نے بتایا کہ دفتر سے نکلتے ہی ایک کار نے ہماری گاڑی بلاک کی, 6 افراد نے تشدد کیا pic.twitter.com/ve9SaKUIke— Tariq Habib (@tariqhabib1) July 1, 2022
“As soon as we left the office, a car blocked our vehicle and six people tortured us,” the journalist wrote while quoting Ayaz Amir.
It is pertinent to mention here that he had given a speech in former prime minister Imran Khan’s regime change seminar.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday strongly condemned the attack on senior journalist and analyst Ayaz Amir.
He instructed the Punjab chief minister to hold a high-level investigation into the incident and bring the culprits to justice. The PM expressed sympathy with Ayaz Amir and directed that protection of the journalists should be ensured.
In his tweet, PTI Chairman Imran Khan said: “I condemn in strongest terms the violence against senior journalist Ayaz Amir today.” He regretted that Pakistan is descending into the worst kind of fascism with violence & fake FIRs against journalists, opposition politicians and citizens. “When the State loses all moral authority it resorts to violence”, he wrote.
I condemn in strongest terms the violence against senior journalist Ayaz Amir today in Lahore. Pak descending into the worst kind of fascism with violence & fake FIRs against journalists,opp politicians, citizens.When the State loses all moral authority it resorts to violence.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 1, 2022
On the other hand, PTI leader Fayyaz Chohan also condemned the incident, saying that the police and other institutions should trace and arrest the accused involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, Punjab IG Police Rao Sardar Ali took notice of the attack on senior journalist Ayaz Amir and sought a report from Lahore CCPO. In a statement, the IG police said that the accused responsible for the incident will be brought to the justice.
Rao Sardar said the assailants will be traced with the help of safe city’s camera footage and asked the senior police officers to contact the victim journalist immediately.
Moreover, Karachi Press Club office-bearers vehemently condemned the attack on Ayaz Amir, saying that the attack reflects the fast growing intolerance in the society.
In a statement, the KPC office-bearers said that voice of the media could not be silenced through such cowardly act. They also demanded arrest of the accused immediately.
MARRIYUM TAKES NOTICE OF ATTACK ON AYAZ AMIR
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday took notice of an attack on senior journalist and analyst Ayaz Amir by unidentified assailants in Lahore.
She contacted Punjab Home Minister Attaullah Tarar, who told her that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident on the directives of PM Shehbaz Sharif and CM Hamza Shehbaz.
Condemning the incident in the strongest words, the minister said the attack on Ayaz Amir was an attack on freedom of press. The government would fully investigate the matter and provide justice to the journalist, she added.
“Cheap tactics are being used against the journalists who raise questions in his presence,” the minister said in an apparent reference to PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
She said reality could not be changed by attacking the dissenting voices and critics. When Imran Khan was in power, he sent the journalists to jails, she added.
Marriyum sympathized with Ayaz Amir and said the attackers would be arrested at all costs.
