Media curbs, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s detention: Jang-Geo Group workers’ protest enters 50th day

RAWALPINDI/PESHAWAR/KARACHI/LAHORE/MULTAN: The countrywide protests by the Geo-Jang Group workers along with the cross-section of civil society, political workers and journalists organizations continued on the 50th day on Friday with the pledge to continue the protests till the release of Editor-in-Chief of Geo-Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and lifting of draconian curbs by the government against the freedom of expression and independence of the media.

At the Rawalpindi protesters camp near the offices of Jang and The News, the protesters holding placards inscribed with their demands and raised slogans for the release of Editor-in-Chief of Geo-Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Addressing the protesters, Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Nasir Zaidi said the arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Geo-Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was an attack on the freedom of media and like the international human rights and media organisations, now the country's own human rights organisations and journalists are also describing the arrest as smacking of plot to strong arm the independent media.

Zaidi said the protest will continue till the release of Editor-in-Chief and achieving the freedom of media and added that if the government feels that they have succeeded in subduing the free media, they do not seem to have learnt anything from the past when dictators attempted such tactics and miserably failed against a resilient journalist fraternity. Editor Reporting Jang Rana Ghulam Qadir said democracy could not flourish in any country without free media. With the illegal and unjust arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Geo-Jang Group, Qadir said the government wants to tell the free media to fall in line and that there is no room for an independent press. He said this very message has galvanised the journalist fraternity to protest against the curbs from Khyber to Karachi.

Chairman Joint Action Committee of Workers of Geo-Jang Group and President Jang Workers Union Nasir Chishti said today the Labour Day was being observed all over the world but in Pakistan the media was facing tough restrictions. He said despite the passage of 50 days, the morale of Mir Shakil remains very high and he has outrightly refused to bow before the illegal demands. Media workers of Jang Group including Munir Shah said the movement for the freedom of media has entered into the 50th day but the morale of protesting workers remains high and they are committed to their struggle against the draconian curbs and for seeking the release of Mir Shakil. Obaid Abbassi of PML-N Youth Wing said the NAB-Niazi nexus has been further exposed with the illegal arrest of Geo-Jang Group Editor-in-Chief.

In Lahore, the protests of journalists and media workers against the unlawful arrest of Jang-Geo Group's Editor-in-Chief by the NAB in a decade-old fake property case continued. The protesters also raised slogans and condemned the rulers for their unwarranted excesses against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to silence the free press. Senior journalists Shaheen Qureshi, Raees Ansari, Malik Zahoor Awan, Ghulam Bilal and the representatives of the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. The speakers belonging to the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union said they had especially come to join the protest camp for expressing solidarity with the workers of Jang-Geo Group and media community in general on May Day.

Meanwhile, veteran journalist Azhar Munir, 65, continued his month-long hunger strike against the unjust arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Despite physical weakness, Azhar Munir is observing the hunger strike outside the Lahore Press Club for highlighting the restrictions against independent press, freedom of expression and the attack on free media by arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

In Peshawar, the media workers continued the protest outside the offices of Daily Jang, The News and Geo against the arrest their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. They carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands. They raised slogans against the government and called for releasing Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. The speakers severely criticised the government for arresting the Jang-Geo Group's Editor-in-Chief in a 34-year old property case which was long settled legally between the two private parties. The Peshawar Press Club President Syed Bukhar Shah said Rahman's arrest exemplifies the rulers intention to gag the independent press.

The senior journalist said the Jang-Geo Group was the largest media group of the country and enjoys respect for paying the workers on time. Shah lamented that the government withheld the advertisements and arrears of the major media group due to which the group could not pay the salaries on time. He also demanded an immediate release of dues to the Jang Group so that the problems of workers could end after payment of salaries. Resident Editor of Daily Jang, Arshad Aziz Malik, pointed out to the human rights organizations reports and deplored that wrongs were being committed against the major media group. The Geo News Bureau Chief Shakeel Farman Ali likened Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman's arrest to an attack on the independent media which, he said, would be resisted.

Addressing the labour rally in Karachi on Friday, the All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation’s secretary general Shakil Yamin Kanga demanded the release of Jang Geo editor-in-chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and said that all the trade unionists and advocates of democracy were standing with the employees of the Jang Geo Group in their campaign to sustain the independence of media.

A big demonstration was held outside the Karachi Press Club on the occasion of the International Labor Day, which expressed deep concern over the curbs on media, the policies and performance of the government during the COVID-19 lockdown, rising inflation and unemployment in the country. The Jang Geo Action committee attended the demonstration on the invitation of National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF). The NTUF deputy general secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the government was targeting the Jang Geo Group which was to cover its incompetency. He said that the at one hand unemployment was on the rise and on the other the government was crippling industries for personal gains. HBWWF general secretary Zehra Khan asked the government what it wanted to achieve through muzzling the media which only reflected the facts on the ground against the government claims.

Pakistan Institute of Labor Research executive director Karamat Ali asked the government to stop its vendetta against the Jang-Geo Group and demanded payments of the dues to the Jang-Geo group. He said that the government was using advertisements as a tool to hurt the independent media organizations. Peoples Labor Bureau leader Habibuddin Junaidi demanded the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and said that this anti-workers policy of the government must stop. He said that workers were going through severe financial hardships because of the economic situation, lack of basic facilities, exploitation and uncertain future. The News Union general secretary Dara Zafar said that the government must listen to the demands of this rally of workers and release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Demanding immediate release of the Editor-In-Chief Geo News Karachi Bureau Chief Fahim Siddiqui warned that the journalists and workers were on the same page against the government’s agenda to muzzle the press.

In Multan, the workers of daily Jang, The News and Geo News continued their protest against the illegal arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. A large number of traders bodies’ representatives visited the camp and expressed solidarity with the Jang-Geo Group. The traders strongly condemned the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and demanded his release. Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and traders’ representative Mian Imran Arshad said that free media was the lifeline for democracy, but the government was determined to bulldoze the fourth pillar of the state. He said that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was arrested without registration of any FIR and demanded his early release.