Protest continues against arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

LAHORE/PESHAWAR: A large number of media workers, civil society activists and people from different walks of life staged a protest demonstration at Davis Road on Monday to condemn the arrest of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Main participants of the protest included Zaheer Anjum, Awais Qarni, Shahab Ansari, Ayesha Akram, Sher Ali Khalti, Aziz Sheikh, Muhammad Shahid, members of Jang Workers Union including Secretary Muhammad Farooq, Wajid Hussein, Muhammad Shafique, Muhammad Ali, Munawar Hussein, Muhammad Shahzad, Akmal Bhatti, Afzal Abbas and others.

The speakers criticised the NAB-Niazi nexus and its assault of the fourth pillar of the state. They said that the media and democracy are part and parcel for the federation. The participants expressed the fear that delay in the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman could aggravate the situation and said he had been detained for no reason for such a long period.

The participants in the protest also appealed to the higher judiciary to exercise its constitutional powers and take suo moto notice of the illegal detention.

In Peshawar, the journalist community members renewed the demand for the release of the Jang/Geo Group Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, as the protest against his arrest continued on Monday.

They gathered outside the Daily Jang, The News and Geo TV offices located in the Khyber Super Market to protest the over five months-long detention of the head of the largest media group of the country. The protesting media workers were carrying banners and placards which had been inscribed with slogans. They raised chants against the detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and anti-media policy of the rulers. Senior journalists, including Daily Jang Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, Sabz Ali Shah, Ihtesham Toru, Qaiser Khan, Gohar Ali and others spoke on the occasion. The speakers lamented that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman had been detained for the last 173 days on cooked-up charges.

They were critical of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for pressuring political rivals and the independent media - the fourth pillar of the state. The speakers said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was being victimized for refusing to accept the official dictates as he heads the biggest media group of the country which has always stood for objective journalism. The protesters said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and his Jang Group promoted independent journalism, and both had to face various types of pressures for that.

They put under question the role of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and said the anti-graft body was biased in actions against the corrupt practices. The speakers explained that the NAB had failed to take notice of the big corruption scandals and was instead busy silencing the opposition political parties and free media. The speakers said rules were not followed by the NAB while arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as there was nothing wrong with the property deal which had been cited to justify the arrest of the Jang Group chief.

They appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of unjust detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and provide him with justice.