Female journalist Ambreen Fatima attacked in Lahore
The wife of investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani – Ambreen Fatima – was attacked by an unknown person in Lahore on Wednesday, according to police.
A first-information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered at the Ghaziabad police station earlier today – a day after the incident.
In the FIR, Ambreen Fatima — who is also a journalist — stated that she and her children had left their house at 8pm on Wednesday.
“When we reached an adjoining street, an unidentified person raced towards the car and struck the vehicle’s windscreen three to four times with an iron object with the intention to cause me harm,” she said. Fatima added that the person also hurled death threats before running away.
The complainant added that she was associated with the journalistic community and worked for Nawa-i-Waqt. Fatima said she did not have enmity with anyone, and urged police to take action and provide her with protection.
Separately, Punjab police confirmed that the incident took place on Wednesday night within Ghaziabad police station limits. Police said that they did not receive information of the incident on the 15 helpline.
“An investigation was initiated when the lady in question came to the station with the car,” the statement said, adding that a case had been registered against an unidentified person.
“Teams led by the concerned SP are working on arresting and identifying the accused with the help of CCTV cameras,” police said.
Meanwhile, condemnations poured in as politicians and journalists denounced the attack.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said that the incident should be investigated at the highest level and the perpetrators should be punished in accordance with the law.
Shehbaz added that such incidents had become increasingly common, which was tarnishing Pakistan’s global image.
Activist Ammar Ali Jan dubbed the incident “extremely disturbing”.
“Targeting family members to settle political disputes are signs of a gangster state. People across the political spectrum must unanimously condemn this barbarity and demand accountability,” he said.
PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb said that she had personally spoken to Fatima about the incident, adding that her strength was admirable.
Condemning the incident, she said that it was shameful that journalists who speak the truth are shot, their columns and programmes are shut down, their jobs are taken away and attempts are made to strip them off their lives and their livelihood.
“The incident has exposed the faces of those giving lectures about the freedom of the press,” she said adding that the perpetrators should be arrested as soon as possible.
Noorani’s report on Saqib Nisar
The incident involving Fatima comes days after her husband, Noorani, who works for a news outlet called Fact Focus, published an explosive story about former chief justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, who has recently found himself embroiled in controversy.
On November 15, an investigative report published in The News by journalist Ansar Abbasi quoted the former top judge of Gilgit-Baltistan as saying in an alleged affidavit that Nisar interfered in judiciary proceedings and colluded to deny former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz bail in 2018, days before the general elections.
Nisar had rubbished the allegations against him and called the report a “self-motivated story”.
However, the report was followed by Noorani’s alleged exposé which claimed to have revealed a conversation between Nisar and an unidentified man regarding interference in Maryam and Nawaz’s trials.
According to the Fact Focus website, the audio clip was examined by a leading firm in the United States which specialises in multimedia forensics. However, Nisar had rebutted the claims and termed the clip “fabricated”.
Source: Dawn
