Protests for Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s release continue: Protesters slam shrinking space for dissent

KARACHI/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: The countrywide protests by journalists and workers of Jang-Geo against the over seven-month long illegal and unjustified detention of Editor-in-Chief of the Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has continued.

On Monday, they said the persecution of Rahman and that of the larger Jang Group highlights the fast-shrinking space for dissent and criticism in the country, which is the soul of democracy.

In Rawalpindi, newsmen and workers of the Jang-Geo Group, along with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists, representatives of the civil society and political workers, gathered outside the offices of Jang and The News and chanted slogans while carrying banners for Rahman’s release and the unprecedented censorship.

During the protest, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists announced holding a countrywide protest for the freedom of media on October 22. In Karachi, PML-N leader Iqbal Khaksar said the seven-month-long detention showed that the Editor-In-Chief has not surrendered his journalistic values.

Similarly in Lahore, a cross-section of journalists, members of the civil society, office-bearers of media unions and trade union of the Jang Group held yet another day of protest against Rahman’s unlawful detention.

They said that due process of law must be followed in this case but despite 220 days, the NAB has produced not a single shred of evidence against him.

Likewise in Peshawar, the protesters converged outside the offices of the Daily Jang, The News and Geo News. The Peshawar Press Club Chairman Syed Bukhar Shah led the protest being held daily to express anger at the incarceration. The protesters raised slogans against the detention and for the early release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.