Jugnu Mohsin calls for safety of journalists, HR activists

LAHORE: Jugnu Mohsin, Independent MPA from PP-184, Okara, with nearly 65,000 votes (a record for an MPA) has submitted an adjournment motion in the Punjab Assembly while condemning rising incidents of attacks on journalists and social media activists.

She spoke on the floor of the House on Friday and asked for the Chair’s permission to submit a resolution condemning the rising tide of violence against the media. The Chair granted permission and Jugnu Mohsin will table the Resolution in the next session of the Punjab Assembly. In her preamble, she stated that freedom of expression is a right enshrined in the Constriction of Pakistan and the government should protect these rights. She said today’s government may be tomorrow’ opposition and they will need the free media then.

Jugnu Mohsin said she was speaking with experience because her husband and partner Najam Sethi had been imprisoned on charges of sedition many times. “In all cases, he was vindicated.” She said in her 28-year experience as a journalist before contesting elections, she had never seen such a dark time. She further said, “I know what a wife goes through when her husband is violently abducted. I know what the children of such a man go through and I know how his aged parents suffer.”

Jugnu Mohsin said we are told “unknown” people perpetrate this violence against journalists. We demand to know, she said, who attacked Hamid Mir, Absar Alam and Asad Toor. In the midst of her speech, ruling party members began to shout her down by chanting slogans amid the Chair switched off her mic. The Opposition rose in her defence and demanded that she be allowed to complete her statement. The Chair then acceded to her request to table a formal resolution in the next session.