Arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman: Jang-Geo workers’ countrywide protest getting stronger

RAWALPINDI: The workers of Geo and Jang Group along with the journalist organisations, civil society and political workers continued their protest against the illegal arrest of the Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, who has been under detention for the last 66 days in a 34-year-old private business transaction.

The countrywide protest of workers of Geo and Jang Group entered the 65th day on Sunday. The protesters chanted slogans for the release of Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Shakil-Ur-Rahman and condemned the curbs on the freedom of media.

Addressing the protesters outside the offices of Jang and The News at Murree Road in Rawalpindi, the speakers called for release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and vowed to continue their protest till his release.

Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Nasir Zaid said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman will be released through the struggle of the workers of Geo and Jang Group. He said the workers of the Geo and Jang group have challenged the rulers and will achieve the success of not only with the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman but also ensure freedom of media.

Chairman Joint Action Committee Nasir Chisti said the Geo and Jang group for the last 73 years has exposed all the conspiracies against the country. He said the media only shows the real faces of the rulers to the people of Pakistan and that was reason that they did not like the freedom of media. Media worker of Jang Group Amjad Ali Abbasi said whenever the rulers wanted to curb the free voice of the media, they always targeted the Jang Group but the workers foiled all the attempts against the Geo and Jang Group.

He said Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman will be released soon. Media worker of Jang Group Munir Shah said Jang-Geo Editor-in-Chief is the voice of the voiceless people. Magzine Incharge Rawalpindi Nadeem Khan said Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is being punished only for bringing the facts before the public.

Press worker of the Jang group Aslam Butt said the government is protecting those who are involved in the flour and sugar crises in the country but arresting those who speak for the people of Pakistan.

He warned if Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is not released, the workers of Geo and Jang Group will launch a stronger protest after Eid. Leader of PML-N Youth Wing Obaid Abbasi said that all the political workers of the country stand firm with the workers of Geo and Jang Group for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

In Lahore, the protesting journalists, workers, civil society activists and people from different walks of life vehemently demanded the release of Jang-Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, adding the Supreme Court should take notice of this illegal arrest. The protesters included Jang Group Editor Shaheen Qureshi, Abdullah Malik, Zaheer Anjum, Akmal Bhatti, Mohammad Ali, Afzal Abbas and a large number of Jang-Geo Group’s workers. The protesting workers also maintained that their struggle for the independence of media and freedom of the press will continue till the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

In Karachi, continuing their protest against the arrest of the Jang/Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, political leaders and trade union leaders said that rulers in Pakistan have been busy in suppressing the press freedom and arrest of head of the country’s largest media group in a 34-year old property case is a part of the government’s efforts to silence the media.

They were speaking to the participants of the protest camp set up outside Jang Building, Azadi Street, in Karachi for the release of the group’s Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. The Jang-Geo Joint Action Committee organised the protest camp.

The protesters carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands urged the government to release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and withdraw cases against him. The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl’s former member Sindh Assembly Hafiz Naeem Shamozai said that his party pays appreciation to Geo and Jang Group and particularly Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman for speaking and reporting the truth. “Because of the group’s bold journalism, the group and its editor-in-chief have been suffering difficulties of detentions and facing financial pressures but despite all it, they are not bowing to the pressure,” said Shamozai.

Terming Prime Minister ‘U-Turn Khan’, he said that the current rulers have been cheating the people from day one and no one in the country is no longer trusting him now.

He said that the JUI-F from the beginning has been protesting against the government because the party believes that the PTI is a selected government and has been given a stolen mandate.

“In our rallies, millions of people attend but in voting boxes, our votes are in thousands. It shows that our votes have been stolen and a selected Prime Minister has been brought to run the country,” he said.

Ikram Khan, secretary-general of United Workers Union,, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said that in Pakistan, there is a tradition to punish, jail, hang or kill the people who speak the truth and talk about the supremacy of the people, citing the example of Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

“And now Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been detained for more than two months in a baseless case only for the crime of speaking the truth.”

He also paid tributes to Mir Khalil-ur-Raman, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s father, for founding and expanding the media group on the basis of bold and quality journalism.

He said that workers of KWSB are with the workers of Jang and Geo group and ready to attend any mass-level protest and agitation for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman anytime.

The All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (Apnec)’s secretary-general Shakeel Yamin Kanga said that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest is the part of the government’s ongoing efforts to pressure the country’s mainstream media. He said that the current government has been punishing workers of the Jang and Geo Group and making their lives miserable by banning the government advertisements and paying the arrears of already published and aired advertisements.

Kanga demanded the government to pay the arrears to Jang and Geo Group so that they could pay salaries to their workers before Eid to celebrate the religious festival with family happily.

He also showed his concerns about the health condition of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and demanded the government to immediately release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman whose detention in a 34 years old property case is apparently an attempt to gag and control the mainstream media.

Chan Zaib and Yaqoob Kandahari of the United Workers Union, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Saeed Mohiduin Pasha, and Dara Zafar of The News Employees Union, Rana Yousaf of Javed Press Union also spoke to the protesters.

In Bahawalpur, members of Bahawalpur Union of Journalists, press club and Daily Jang, Geo News and The News workers action committee continued their protest against the arrest of Jang-Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The protesters gathered outside the press club and condemned the illegal arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Addressing the protesting journalists, Ameen Abbasi said that 66 days had passed but the NAB had failed to provide substantial evidence to lodge an FIR against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

In Peshawar, the Jang-Geo Group workers continued the protest against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, on the 67 consecutive day on Sunday. The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans, which called for the immediate release of the Jang, The News and Geo editor-in-chief and withdrawal of cases against him.

The protesters criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for being in collusion with each other. They said the government was using the national institution to victimise its political opponents and suppress the voice of the independent media. Speaking on the occasion, Daily Jang Resident Editor, Arshad Aziz Malik, senior journalists Shakeel Farman, Farmanullah Jan and others recalled that Mir Shakil had been detained for the last over two months. They pointed out that the Jang Group chief had been held in a 34 year old property case despite the fact that all legal formalities had been met in the transaction and there was nothing illegal about that.

The speakers said the government was victimising the editor-in-chief of the biggest media group after he refused to follow its dictates. They said the previous governments, too, had tried to pressure the Jang Group but all those tactics had failed to yield results. Likening the arrest of Mir Shakil to an attack on the free press, the speakers said they would continue highlighting the truth as that was their basic duty.

The protesters asked the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of the “illegal” arrest of Mir Shakil who, they said, had behind bars for the last 67 days sans proof of any wrongdoing.