Release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman demanded

PESHAWAR: The media workers on Thursday demanded the release of the Jang/Geo Group Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as they continued the protest against his detention.

The protesters gathered at the Daily Jang, The News and Geo TV offices in the Khyber Supermarket while carrying banners.

They condemned the detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman since March 12 and hostile media policy of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. Daily Jang Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, Shah Zaman, Imdad Ali Qazalbash, Qaiser Khan, Gulzar Khan, Gohar Ali, Ansar Abbas and others addressed the protesters. They were critical of the PTI government for putting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman under detention for the last 176 days on false charges.

The speakers said the PTI government was targeting the political opponents and those media houses, which were promoting independent journalism. They pointed out that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and the Jang Media Group were being victimised by the PTI government deliberately as they had refused to toe the official line in the media coverage. The speakers said all this was being done by the rulers to shift the focus of the people’s attention from the poor governance and hide their failures as they had failed to deliver on all fronts. The protesters slammed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) role and said the so-called anti-corruption watchdog was not following a fair method to go after the tainted people. The NAB arrested Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a property deal which was struck as per the law between the two parties, said the speakers. The protesters noted that the NAB was intentionally ignoring the massive graft scandals as the ruling party members were seen behind such corrupt practices. The speakers requested the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of the case and provide justice to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as his detention had entered into six months.