Workers renew demand for release of Editor-in-Chief

PESHAWAR: The workers of Jang/Geo Group continued to protest on Monday against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, they urged the government to release Mir Shakil forthwith and withdraw cases against him. They chanted slogans against the government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for detaining Mir Shakil in a 34 years old property case without fulfilling all the legal formalities. Quoting the constitutional experts, the workers deplored the role of NAB, which they said had no jurisdiction to detain a citizen in a private property case.

They said the NAB was doing so on the directives of the rulers, who wanted to suppress the independent voice of the media. The speakers including Daily Jang Peshawar Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali and others recalled that the government was pressuring the media to sack some journalists which was not acceptable to them. Terming the arrest of Mir Shakil attack on the independent press, they said NAB should have held the ones accountable involved in mega corruption scandals including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Malam Jabba, Billion Tsunami Tree, sugar and flour crises and the former adviser on information Ajmal Wazir, who was removed on the charges of corruption.

The speakers appealed to the chief justice Supreme Court to take notice of the ongoing injustices with Mir Shakil, who was cooperating with NAB but was detained even the investigations were not yet completed.

They said that it was the first case in which an accused was arrested without registering a case against him. The protesters warned to expand the protest movement if their demands were not accepted. They urged the government to release Mir Shakil and withdraw cases against him and stop economic murder of the media workers.