News Analysis |
Police in Sialkot arrested secretary M Jamil of Union Council (UC) Begowala in connection with the murder of Daily Nawa-i-Waqt-journo Zeeshan Butt on March 27, but the main accused UC chairman Imran Aslam Cheema remain at large.
The local journalist was murdered, while he was covering a story on UC Chairman Cheema and his accomplices. He asked him some queries while working on an assignment. Apparently irked by Butt’s queries, Cheema threatened to kill him.
The audio clip of the journalist’s last call went viral on social networking websites and raged public on such a heinous crime.
Pakistan is fourth on the list of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists, and comes behind Mexico, Philippines and Iraq according to an International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) report. The report which chronicles journalist deaths since 1990, says that at least 2,297 journalists and media workers have been killed in the last 25 years.
Journalist community and the public have expressed dismay over such an atrocity apparently after a minor dispute. Though, investigating SHO thinks otherwise, motives of the murder will be soon come into light after an investigation from the alleged killer.
The record of Butt’s mobile phone was taken by the police into custody for evidence after his brutal murder. His phone records revealed that after receiving the grave life- threats from the UC chairman Cheema, baffled reporter first called the Emergency 15 and asked for help from the police to save his life from the threatening Cheema.
Having received no response from emergency services, he called station house officer (SHO) of Sambrial police and informed him about the situation, but was apparently ignored. He eventually called Hina Arshad Warraich, District Council chairperson, and told her of his ordeal. This call was recorded and proved to be the last call of his life.
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On call to Hina, he said, “Madam, I am Zeeshan Ashraf Butt, correspondent of Daily Nawa-i-Waqt at Sambrial. I had come to the Begowala union council to investigate details of newly imposed taxes on shopkeepers. But UC chairman Imran Aslam Cheema wants to kill me.” He had only uttered these words, and was yet to complete his sentence when the gunshots were heard and Zeeshan became silent forever.
Sialkot police managed to catch the alleged murderer after facing criticism for failing to arrest the killers of a young journalist. The family of the deceased had asked Chief Justice Punjab and President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz- (PML-N) to take action against the SHO and the officers in emergency services for failing to make a timely intervention to save Zeeshan’s life, despite his frantic calls to save his life from political goons.
The local journalist was murdered, while he was covering a story on UC Chairman Cheema and his accomplices. He asked him some queries while working on an assignment. Apparently irked by Butt’s queries, Cheema threatened to kill him.
Though the case against the culprit was registered, but according to SHO Sambrial, the motives behind murder were political. Earlier, Minister of State for Information, Marriyum Aurangzeb strongly condemned the dreadful murder of Butt and ensured the public that his murderers will have to pay for this heinous act. CM Punjab had also ordered swift action against the culprit.
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On April 4, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) had also taken notice of the crime and asked Punjab IG to submit the report within 24-hours. The human rights cell of journalists had submitted a plea to take notice of the incident. CJP also summoned the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Arif Nawaz Khan to present a report in the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Earlier, a large number of journalists joined the protest demonstration against Butt’s brutal killing for 9-days. Politically influential accused in the murder is still at large, despite the pressure from the local community, journalists and top-tier politicians in Punjab and Federal level.
Journalist community and the public have expressed dismay over such an atrocity apparently after a minor dispute. Though, investigating SHO thinks otherwise, motives of the murder will be soon come into light after an investigation from the alleged killer.