Punjab Assembly lawmaker Syeda Maimanat Mohsin, more commonly known by her pseudonym Jugnu Mohsin, was attacked by armed assailants in Okara over a “political rivalry” on Sunday evening , police said. She remained unhurt in the incident.
According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Mohsin was returning from the Jhujh Kalan area in Okara after a rally when armed men waylaid her vehicle and opened fire on it. The suspects then fled the scene, while hurling threats at the MPA.
Okara District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Shehzad told Dawn.com that the attack occurred around 30 minutes after she left the venue where the rally was held.
He said that it was a politically motivated incident in which supporters of the MPA were also attacked by their opponent's group.
The DPO said the police had arrested two suspects, adding that main accused in the case, identified as Yaseen Dhandha, would also be apprehended soon.
Punjab Police PRO, in a statement, said that the main accused, Dhandha, along with six unidentified accomplices, intercepted the MPA's vehicle and opened fire, piercing its glass window. "The armed men then fled under the cover of aerial firing."
He said police have registered the case and arrested two suspects, identified as Mukhtar Sikandar and Sultan Yasin.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari termed the incident “absolutely unacceptable” and demanded that the perpetrators be arrested.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also condemned the attack on Mohsin, who is also an author and journalist.
On June 4, Jugnu Mohsin had submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly, condemning attacks on journalists and rights activists in the country.
Speaking in the assembly, she revisited the history of violence against the media persons, saying “What is happening to journalists and rights activists here is nothing new. We have fought long and hard for whatever little freedom we enjoy,” she said.
Mohsin also spoke about the recent attacks on Absar Alam and Asad Ali Toor and banning Hamid Mir’s show. “Being journalist myself with a 30-year experience and since my husband Najam Sethi has been attacked, arrested and disappeared on a number of occasions for his constitutional right to freedom of expression, I know what it feels like so. I am speaking for all the families of the oppressed today,” she had said.
She had also demanded the government to ensure protection of the rights of journalists and rights activists, and justice in the recent cases of torture and murder of journalists. She also sought passage of a bill in this regard from parliament.
Wife of journalist Najam Sethi, Jugnu was elected to the Punjab Assembly as an independent candidate during the 2018 general election from her native area.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1628077/mpa-jugnu-mohsins-convoy-attacked-by-armed-assailants-in-okara
