Workers renew demand for release of Chief Editor

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

They were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans to demand the release of Mir Shakil. The protesters also chanted slogans against the government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They held the rulers accountable for the existing crises, saying the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has left behind the dictatorial governments in its anti-press policies.

The protestors demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil and withdrawal of cases against him. They criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and NAB for illegally detaining Mir Shakil for the last more than 135 days to suppress voice of the independent media. The speakers, including senior journalists Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, and others recalled that the editor of the major media group was arrested in a 34-year-old property case, which was sheer injustice.

Terming arrest of Mir Shakil illegal, unconstitutional and an attack on independent media, they said the press could not be suppressed through such tactics. They said the workers had never accepted such illegal decisions of the former powerful rulers and would not do so now. They deplored that they had been requesting the chief justice Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of the ongoing injustice with Mir Shakil but to no avail.

They demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil and withdrawal of cases against him.

They said they would expand their protest movement if their just demands were not accepted.