Protest continues against arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

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

They staged the protest outside the offices of Daily Jang, The News and Geo TV with banners and placards in their hands.

The protesters raised the slogans against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for victimizing the Jang Group and pressuring the free media.

Among the speakers were Daily Jang Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, Sabz Ali Shah, Ansar Abbas, Imdad Ali Qazalbash, Gohar Ali, Shah Zaman and others. They criticized the PTI government for arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman on false charges six months back and keeping him interned to date.

The speakers deplored that the Jang Group chief had been under detention for the last 186 days as the government wanted to punish this media house for upholding objective journalism.

They came down hard on the National Accountability Bureau and said it was suppressing the opposition parties and putting under pressure the independent media. The speakers said the anti-graft watchdog was highly biased as it was not taking any notice of the big scandals which were linked to the PTI members. The requested the Supreme Court to take notice of the case and provide justice to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.