127th day of detention: Protest against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest continues

LAHORE: Senior journalists, civil society members, office-bearers of media and trade unions and employees of the Jang Group Saturday strongly condemned detention of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a politically motivated case for the last 127 days without any progress.

They were staging a demonstration outside the Jang offices at the protest camp of workers of Geo, Jang and The News employees, set up on the call of Joint Action Committee and Jang Employees Union for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman for the last 103rd consecutive days. They expressed sorrow that those claiming to make Pakistan a Madina-like state had been detaining Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a 34-year-old property exemption case.

They demanded the chief justice of Pakistan take suo motu action against this gross injustice to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, which was a blatant direct attack on the press freedom. They vowed to continue struggle for Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman release and warned that the government must refrain from negative tactics being used to curb the press freedom.

They demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and warned that any direct action could be taken against the PTI government to deter it from its dictatorial policies. They threatened to launch an anti-government movement across the country if the Editor-in-Chief was not released.

Those who participated in the protest camp included senior editor Jang group Shaheen Qureshi, Jang Workers Union Secretary General Farooq Malik, senior journalist and News Editor of Pakistan Times, Zaheer Anjum, Jang chief reporter Maqsood Butt, Amir Taimur Malik, Awais Qarni, Sher Ali Khalti, Amjad Farooq Kallu, Muhammad Shafiq, Riaz Hussain, Sohail Iqbal, Aziz Sheikh, Shahid Aziz, Munawwar Hussain, Muhammad Naeem, M Nawaz, Muhammad Wajed, Wahab Khanzada, Akmal Bhatti, Hafiz Asad, Mohammad Ali, Afzal Abbas and others.

Shaheen Qureshi slammed the PTI government as fascist and the worst kind of authoritarian regime that was bent upon gagging the voice of independent media to prevent its corruption and maladministration from reaching the public.

Zaheer Anjum said the media could not work for the truth without freedom, as it played the role of watchdog in society and country.

Maqsood Butt said fake and fabricated case against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman should be withdrawn and he should be released immediately.

The participants chanted slogans against the incumbent government and condemned the illegal and anti-media tactics, being used by the rulers through state institutions including the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).