PESHAWAR
Hundreds of angry and violent protesters of PTI on Wednesday set the notable building of Radio Pakistan Peshawar and the office of the premier national news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on fire, totally destructing the building and the offices.
Station Director Radio Pakistan Peshawar, Tahir Hassan and employees said, hundreds of PTI workers who were protesting the arrest of their leader Imran Khan in corruption cases, entered the premises of the building after rooting out the main gate.
The PTI workers entered various sections of the Radio Pakistan and looted valuable equipment before setting the rooms on fire.
Station Director Tahir Hassan said that PTI workers had also torched the replica of Chaghi Mountain in the same building the other day, adding that some of the violent protesters also resorted to massive aerial firing on the main road outside the Radio Pakistan building.
The unbridled protesters after ransacking and looting the valuable office equipment entered the other floors of the office and set every room on fire. They then reached the fourth floor of the building where the APP office was situated and after stealing valuables set it on fire.
During the mayhem, the APP and Radio Pakistan staffers somehow managed to save their lives from the horrible attack of the violent mob by running out of the building just to see roaring flames and thick black smoke coming out of the windows.
Meanwhile another group of angry mob turned towards the vehicles’ parked into the shed and destroyed around seven to eight vehicles including of APP staffers and PBC.
The fire lit by the PTI workers gradually engulfed the whole building including the APP office and destroyed everything in its path.
The mob also went to the roof of the Radio Pakistan building where all the spare equipment and furniture was stored and destroyed everything by lighting fire.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information, Maryam Aurangzeb has denounced the attack on Radio Pakistan and APP offices and termed it an act of terrorism. She said PTI workers in the past attacked the building of PTV and today they destroyed the offices of Radio Pakistan and media.
She said the mental approach of the PTI workers could be evaluated from the act that they even torched the model of Chaghi Mountain erected to mark the nuclear explosions carried out by the then PMLN government in May 1998.
She said the DG Radio has been directed to get registered the FIR of the incident adding that those involved in this anti-state act will be brought before the justice.
