ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday constituted a two-member committee for contacts with media houses, a day after three staffers of Express News were killed in firing at their vehicle in Karachi.
The committee comprises the federal minister for interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and the federal minister for information Pervaiz Rashid, and will take stock of threats to media.
The prime minister directed the committee to immediately give practical proposals for the protection of media.
On Friday, unknown gunmen riding on motorcycles shot dead three Express News workers after ambushing a stationary DSNG (digital satellite news gathering) van in a busy neighbourhood of Karachi.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack as its spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said while talking to media that “We accept responsibility. I would like to present some of its reasons: At present, Pakistani media is playing the role of (enemies and spread) venomous propaganda against Tehrik-i-Taliban. They have assumed the (role of) opposition. We had intimated the media earlier and warn it once again that (they must) side with us in this venomous propaganda.”
“We have warned Express News a number of times. I have contacted Express News myself and conveyed to them our grievances,” the TTP spokesman added.
