Faysal Mujeeb, a photographer working for Dawn, was beaten up by Karachi Rangers for covering Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Yaum-i-Shuhada event.
The event was held near ‘Nine Zero’, formerly the headquarters of the MQM led by its founder leader, Altaf Hussain.
According to Mujeeb, he was covering the event. He recalled that the relatives of slain MQM activists had started arriving at the venue, ‘Yaadgar-i-Shuhada’ on Thursday morning and were laying rose petals on their graves, reports Dawn.
He stated, “Some of the people present there started raising slogans in favour of Hussain, which prompted Rangers and they started detaining them. I and another media worker, Mehboob Ahmed Chishti, were also picked up.”
Mujeeb said that he proved his identity as a press photographer and that he was on the duty assigned to him by Dawn. However, he said, the Rangers personnel did not listen to him and started beating him up and his camera and mobile phone also got smashed during the episode.
“They kept me in detention for about an hour and subjected me to severe thrashing. I was set free only after a Rangers officer came and got my identity verified from his sources,” he revealed.
Several organisations and journalists condemned the act.
