KARACHI: Police are still groping in the dark as they have failed to arrest the suspected killers of TV journalist Athar Mateen, who was shot dead by bandits in broad daylight on a busy road in North Nazimabad, Karachi on February 18.
However, Karachi Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Nabi Memon claimed that the police had found some leads and they were working on the case. He assured demonstrators who were staging a protest against the brutal murder that the killers would soon be arrested.
Memon said that he had given some suggestions to the Sindh chief minister for controlling crime in the city. He also said that the CM approved the suggestions and the police would act accordingly. He suggested that a team comprising journalists and police should be made to work jointly on the Mateen murder case.
Statistics showed that at least 14 people were killed by bandits in Karachi in more than 8,000 incidents of street crime since January this year.
There were reports from Balochistan that a suspect was arrested for his involvement in the Mateen murder case. Parliamentary Secretary on Information in Balochistan Bushra Rind claimed that the main suspect involved in the murder was arrested in Khuzdar.
The news came when the journalists under the platform of Joint Action Committee (JAC) were staging a protest in front of the building of the provincial assembly of Sindh. This news offended the journalists staging the protest who said that such sort of news was being aired to distract us from our demands.
Coordinator of the JAC and secretary of the Karachi Press Club Rizwan Bhatti, while addressing the gathering at the protest, rejected the news’s authenticity and said if the killer was arrested, the police should present him in front of the media. He said the protest would continue till the arrest of the killers of Athar Mateen.
Soon after the killing of Mateen, the JAC served an ultimatum on the Karachi police to arrest the culprits in 72 hours or otherwise, the journalists would be forced to stage a protest. After the end of the ultimatum period, the journalists staged a protest first in front of the Karachi police office and on the following day, they went to hold the protest in front of the Sindh Assembly building.
Later at the protest in front of the assembly building, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani joined the protest camp and did not confirm or deny the news that had emerged from Balochistan.
However, he assured the journalists that main killers would be arrested soon as there was some developments in the murder case. He said being a provincial minister, he could not divulge any information at this stage but rest assured the culprits would be booked.
“We are embarrassed when such sort of incidents occur as we are ultimately responsible. The CM has taken some relevant measures and you will see the result in the days to come.”
The JAC presented him a three-point charter of demands which called upon the government to arrest the killers of Mateen. The second demand was to form a joint committee comprising representatives of police and journalists to avoid such incidents, and in case of the unnatural death of a journalist, a policy should be devised to support his family.
Later the press release issued by the Karachi Press Club said that a committee would be formed to talk to the government on the charter of demands and a meeting in this connection would be held soon.
