Senior journalist and former Chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA), Absar Alam, who has been criticizing the country's military establishment, was shot in Islamabad on Tuesday.
According to several media reports, the incident happened near his home yesterday while he was walking outside his residence. He was injured after the bullet shot but survived. Officials said he was in stable condition.
In a video shared by journalist Asad Ali Toor on Twitter, Alam can be heard saying he was hit in the ribs but had not lost hope. "My message to those who did this is that I am not going to be scared by such tactics," Alam said in the video.
As of now, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, Pakistan's interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has ordered the Islamabad IG to investigate the attack on the journalist. He directed that those involved in the firing should be arrested as soon as possible.
The Islamabad Police have already swung into action and constituted a special team under the command of SSP investigation to investigate the attack on Alam "from all aspects".
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Firing incident on Mr Absar Alam:<br><br>IGP Islamabad constituted a special team under the command of SSP Investigation to investigate the matter from all aspects. <br><br>The Team has been directed to use all scientific and forensic methods to trace the accused involved in the incident.</p>— Islamabad Police (@ICT_Police) <a >April 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As soon as the news broke out, several eminent personalities condemned the incident. PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz criticised the attackers saying, "silencing the voice of dissent is a cancer that has plagued this country for many years."
Others who condemned the attack includes Anchorperson Kashif Abbasi, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, Former ambassador to the UN Maleeha Lodhi, among others.