ISLAMABAD, Jul 01 (APP): 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 Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister 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.
Marriyum vowed to take all-out steps for ensuring the journalists’ protection, as there was no concept of democracy without the freedom of expression.
“Cheap tactics are being used against the journalists who raise questions in his presence,” the minister said in an apparent reference to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 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.
Imran Khan’s ouster from the power did not help him get rid of the fascist and autocratic mindset, she observed.
Marriyum sympathized with Ayaz Amir and said the attackers would be arrested at all costs.
