Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman completes over two months under arrest

KARACHI/LAHORE/MULTAN/RAWALPINDI/PESHAWAR: The workers of Geo News, dailies Jang and The News continued their two-month-long protest against the victimisation of their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman who is undergoing an unending, unlawful arrest and the larger government’s pattern of putting the Jang-Geo Group and other independent media houses under duress for its independent editorial policies.

Once again on Tuesday, the group’s workers were joined by a cross-section of civil society, political workers, media and journalist fraternity, trade unionists as an expression of solidarity for the media house putting up bravely in the face of sustained adversity.

Carrying placards inscribed with demands, they raised slogans demanding media freedom, free press as constitutionally guaranteed, calling for putting a stop to the coercive measures against the Jang-Geo Group, unconditional release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and withdrawal of trumped-up charges against him. Addressing the protest outside the offices of Jang and The News at the Murree Road in Rawalpindi, the speakers called for the release of Editor-in-Chief and termed his continued arrest without bail as manifestation of the government-NAB nexus to keep the opposition and all the dissenting forces under check.

President Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Nasir Zaidi said that Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group will be released through the struggle of journalists who consider him as a beacon for the freedom of press.

Chairman Joint Action Committee of the workers of Geo-Jang Group and President Jang Workers Union Nasir Chishti said that the government under the pressure of the journalist fraternity will have to bite the dust like all regimes before and release him and clear the billions of rupee in arrears.

Secretary General RIUJ and senior correspondent of the Geo News Asif Ali Bhatti, Chief Reporter Jang Rana Ghulam Qadir, media workers Munir Shah, Malik Nusrat, Azhar Sultan and Kaleem Shahmim also addressed the protesters.

In Karachi, the Jang-Geo Action Committee’s protest slammed the draconian curbs against the Jang-Geo Group and demanded the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. The group’s workers were joined by political parties’ leaders, trade unionists and civil society activists.

Speaking to the demonstration, former Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker and Organization for Restoration of Committee leader Jamal Ahmed said that the prime minister, instead of focusing his attention and efforts to battle the coronavirus, was engaging in vendetta against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and his media house due to which the state of affairs in the country were worsening.

Former MQM lawmaker and Organisation Restoration Committee MQM-P, (ORC-MQM-P) leader Kamran Farooqi said the people are fed up with the government’s policies and wanted it to go. He said that the ORC chief Dr Farooq Sattar had directed all his party leaders and workers to stand with the employees of the Jang-Geo Group in their campaign for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He appreciated Rahman’s patience and resolve for not succumbing to the unrelenting government pressure. The All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation secretary information Fawad Mehmood said that two months on, the Jang Geo Editor-in-Chief was in jail and added that his services to journalism will always be remembered.

Others who spoke to the demonstration included APNEC secretary general Shakil Yamin Kanga, Javed Press Union’s general secretary Rana Yusuf, The News Union’s president Saeed Muhiuddin Pasha and general secretary Dara Zafar.

In Peshawar, the Jang-Geo Group media workers continued their protest to demand the immediate release of their Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the protesters chanted slogans against the government and the National Accountability Bureau for victimizing government rivals.

The speakers including Peshawar Press Club President Syed Bukhar Shah, Daily Jang Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik, senior journalist Shakeel Farman Ali and Imdad Ali Qazalbash lamented that the Editor-in-Chief of the biggest media group of the country was being punished only for not toeing the government line. They pointed out that Mir Shakil was arrested even before completion of the investigation process and without a reference or a case. But on the contrary, the NAB and the government have no interest in investigating the mega corruption scams pertaining to the Bus Rapid Transit, Malam Jabba, sugar and flour, etc. They said the rulers were trying to suppress the voice of the independent journalists but would not be able to do so.

In Multan, the group workers continued to agitate against the continued persecution of the Jang-Geo Group and its Editor-in-Chief and demanded his release. Like elsewhere, members of the civil society, political workers, PML-N Youth Wing workers, lawyers, human rights activists and journalists visited the protest camp of the workers of the Geo News, dailies Jang and The News and expressed solidarity with them.

Speaking on the occasion, the PML-N Youth Wing vice president Rana Muhammad Zeeshan while condemning the long and illegal detention of the Editor-in-Chief, said the government’s policies against the Jang-Geo Group were deeply disturbing for the country’s free media and the constitutionally-guaranteed right of freedom of expression and thought, turning this period into the darkest chapters in the country’s history of repression against the free media.

Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Usman Khan Babar said that the government policies were bringing unrest in the society. He demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

In Lahore, the workers of Jang, The News and the Geo News along with representatives of civil society and political workers, businessmen continued their two-month-long protest. They pledged to continue their struggle till such time that their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was released and the curbs against free media are abandoned. Addressing the protesters outside the offices of Jang and The News on Davis Road, Abdullah Malik, a representative of the civil society, said the illegal arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was an attack on the freedom of expression and freedom of media. It was a violation of human rights. The Geo News Sialkot Bureau Chief Umar Ijaz, Sh Adil from Sialkot, Rai Ayaz Akbar from Shorkot, Hasnain Raza from Shorkot, Muhammad Waqas also demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Zaheer Anjum said the government was trying to muzzle the country’s free press. He demanded releasing the payment of billions of rupees in arrears of the Jang Group. Jang Group Director Shaheen Qureshi, Sher Ali Khalti and others were also present at the protest camp.