Mob Storms Pak Daily's Office For Terming London Bridge Attacker ‘Man Of Pakistani Origin’

Dozens of protesters carrying banners and chanting slogans against a Pakistani newspaper tried to storm its offices in Islamabad. This came after the Dawn newspaper identified London Bridge attacker as a “man of Pakistani origin”. They were apparently angered by the headline of newspaper last week in which it identified Khan as a man of Pakistani origin.

The angry mob, carrying banners and chanting slogans against the newspaper, remained outside the office building for nearly three hours, besieging the premises and making the staffers hostage, the report said.

The profile pieced together of Usman Khan, the attacker, on the basis of his conviction on terrorism offences reveals a "serious jihadi" who was the youngest in a nine-member group of Islamist radicals jailed in 2012 for planning to bomb the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the US Embassy as well as target VIPs such as Boris Johnson, then the Mayor of London.

The court documents seen by 'The Sunday Times' reveal that the authorities were much more concerned about the sophistication displayed by Khan and others from his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent, who were planning to set up a terrorist training facility "under the cover of a madrassa" on land owned by his family in PoK.

The incident was widely condemned by leaders of various political parties, parliamentarians and journalist bodies.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a statement condemned the incident, saying that “no one should be allowed to attack media outlets in the name of protest”.

He demanded “action against the crowd which attacked the newspaper office and vowed to side with the journalist fraternity”.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb called for a high-level investigation into the incident to punish the perpetrators.

“Such actions are unacceptable in any civilised society,” she said, pledging that the people, politicians and the media will join hands in the fight against such elements.