ISLAMABAD: Senior journalist Muhammad Ahmed Noorani was beaten up by unidentified attackers at the busy Khayabane Suharwardy Road in Islamabad on Friday.
His car was stopped by three people riding a motorbike near Zero Point Interchange, while he was on his way home in Islamabad from Rawalpindi. The three men got down from their unmarked motorcycle after chasing Noorani’s car while another three, who were standing where the car was stopped with another unmarked motorcycle, joined in and severely beat up the journalist and his driver with iron rods after throwing out the keys from the ignition. The attackers escaped from the scene on their bikes, with no licence plates, towards Zero Point after people started gathering at the site and traffic started coming to a halt on the busy road. The journalist was taken to the Polyclinic Hospital by a passerby where he was administered medical aid and later he was moved to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for Computed Tomography (CT) scan. Doctors declared him out of danger, but decided to keep him under observation for the next 24 hours. Aabpara Police registered an FIR under sections 148 (an offence committed by many persons), 149 (all the persons were with deadly weapons), 324 (an attempt to murder) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of Pakistan Penal Code.
Published in Daily Times, October 28th 2017.