DADU: Protest rallies were held in this city and many towns of the district on Monday against the murder of senior journalist Jan Mohammad Mahar in Sukkur a day earlier.

Mr Mahar was shot dead by two armed assailants riding a motorcycle while he was travelling by his car and passing by the St. Saviour School on Queens Road a little before midnight. Soon after the incident, the area police attributed the attack to some old enmity between his family and the assailants.

The rallies in Dadu city, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Mehar, Johi, Sehwan, Bhan Syedabad and other towns in the district were led by elected representatives of the respective press club or other journalists’ organisation.

In Dadu city, a big rally was taken out by local journalists led by Sabir Hussain Bhand, president of the Dadu Press Club. Senior journalists Ghous Jhatyal, Gulan Khan Bhand, Tariq Leghari, Adal Mahesar, Jalal Solangi, Mumtaz Bhand and Azad Baloch were accompanying him.

The rally marched through various roads before holding a demonstration on Kachehry Road. The participants were carrying placards inscribed with demand for immediate arrest of the killers, and raising slogans to condemn the attack.

They described the attack as failure of the state machinery, and vowed to continue the protest until arrest of the killers.

The rallies in Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah and Johi were led by Anwar Azad Kandhro, Ali Gul Khoso and Pir Bux Babar, respectively.

Journalists and other media personnel took out a rally from the Sehwan Press Club and assembled at Dhamal Chowk to hold a demonstration.

Speaking to the participants, Zulifiqar Solangi, Yaseen Rind, K.K. Burdi and Yaseen Ansari strongly condemned Mr Mahar’s murder and urged the Sindh chief minister to ensure arrest of the killers to end the unrest prevailing in the entire journalist community in the province.

In Bhan Syedabad, a big rally was led by Zulifiqar Mengal, Muzaffar Khokhar, Adam Mengal, Akram Memon and Yasir Shoro to condemn failure of the Sukkur police in protecting the life of the senior journalist. They noted that the act of terrorism took place in the heart of the city and the attackers managed to flee.

The rally taken out in Naushahero was led by Qazi Zulfiqar and participated by a large number of local media personnel. Lawyers and civil society activists also joined in the rally, which marched through different roads and then held a sit-in in the middle of the road in front of the local press club. The road rem­ained blocked for several hours during the course of the protest.

A similar rally was taken out from the Nawabshah Press Club under the lead of Zulfiqar Khaskheli and Arshad Shaikh. The participants also held a demonstration outside the club and raised slogans to condemn the senior journalist’s murder.

Lawyers, traders, students, civil society activists and members of different political and nationalist entities joined in all the rallies to express solidarity with the journalist community.

MIRPURKHAS: Media personnel held protest demonstrations outside the offices of various media organisations and journalists’ associations in this city and different towns of the district on Monday to condemn senior journalist Jan Mohammad Mahar’s murder in Sukkur.

They strongly condemned the attack and failure of police to provide protection to journalists in Sindh, and urged the Sindh IG to ensure that the culprits were apprehended as soon as possible and taken to task.

A condolence meeting for Mr Mahar was also held at the National Press Club. The participants expressed their deep shock and grief over his murder and paid homage to the late journalist and highlighted the services rendered by him in providing information to the general public through the media.

They called for fool-proof measures to ensure safety and security of the journalists and their relatives.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2023