Monday, April 28, 2014

Pakistan: Amina Janjua, other relatives of missing persons, baton charged by police

Police today resorted to brute force on Amina Masood Janjua and other relatives of missing persons holding a protest demonstration at D-Chowk in the Federal Capital city, wounding several people.
According to media reports, the protesters were attempting to approach the Parliament house in Islamabad's Red Zone area. Police resorted to baton-charging and aerial firing and also fired tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, as a result of which several persons fell unconscious. The resultant clash also left six police personnel, including two women and four men were wounded. Human Rights activist and campaigner on the missing persons issue, Amna Masood Janjua was also arrested by police personnel. Police tried to confiscate the cameras and other equipment, of media teams trying to cover the incident.
Television channels aired footage of several journalists who were wounded and had their equipment damaged due to the use of force by security personnel. The police began to target the media persons when they gathered around chairperson Defence of Human Rights Amina Janjua, to grab footage of police personnel manhandling and forcing the human rights campaigner into a vehicle. At least three media persons were wounded in the police action. Moreover, several activists and media personnel were also taken into custody by law enforcers.

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