ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday ordered an inquiry after Islamabad police stormed the National Press Club and allegedly assaulted several journalists, triggering outrage across the country.
Television footage and social media videos showed baton-wielding policemen dragging journalists from the club’s cafeteria and beating them. One video filmed by a Dawn.com correspondent showed a photojournalist with his Nikon camera broken and his shirt ripped from the back.
Taking notice of what he termed an “unfortunate” incident, Naqvi demanded a report from the Islamabad inspector general of police. “Violence against the journalist community cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” he said, vowing disciplinary action against officials found responsible.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) condemned the raid, with its president Afzal Butt alleging that even press club office-bearers were “beaten and tortured.” Two people were briefly arrested during the raid, he said.
“This is a matter of now or never for us,” Butt declared, announcing that PFUJ had convened an emergency session to draw up demands and decide its future course of action. “The press club is a journalist’s home. To storm it, beat its members and break their equipment has never happened before,” he said.
State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry appeared alongside Butt at a press conference, offering an apology and describing the incident as “sudden.” His office later claimed police had entered the club while chasing protesters from the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), some of whom had allegedly manhandled officers.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also condemned the incident, calling it “regrettable” and stressing that Naqvi had not ordered police to enter the premises.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) denounced the raid as “shameful and condemnable,” demanding accountability. Prominent journalists, including Hamid Mir, Syed Talat Hussain, Matiullah Jan, and Zebunnisa Burki, also voiced their anger, describing the assault as unprecedented and “madness without method.”
