APNS, PBA demand early release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

KARACHI: The Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) Saturday urged upon the government and the state institutions of Pakistan to look into the prolonged imprisonment of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and ensure his early release.

After the board of directors of the PBA elected new office-bearers, the broadcasters association issued a statement appealing the State of Pakistan to look into the matter of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman who is in custody now for over 200 days while the NAB investigation and his remand has finished a long time ago. APNS statement was issued by President Hameed Haroon and Secretary General Sarmad Ali.

The APNS and PBA said the reference against the Editor-in-Chief of Jang-Geo Group, with the alleged supporting evidence relied upon by NAB, has already been filed in court so there can be no fear of him tampering with the evidence if he is released.

While Mir Shakil-Ur-Rahman, like any other citizen, is not above the law, the PBA appeals that he may be allowed to defend himself, as a free man, so as to dispel the impression that perhaps the objective behind his arrest and prosecution instead of accountability was to muzzle the media independence and to serve as a lesson for the entire media industry.

Earlier, the PBA held its Annual General Meeting on Saturday.

Majority of members from TV & Radio category were present at the meeting. Three TV members -- City 42 (Mohsin Raza Naqvi), Mehran TV (Ghulam Nabi Morai) and Neo TV (Ch Abdul Rehman) were unanimously elected by the General Body as Directors on PBA board in "Elected Member Category".

The following radio members were elected unopposed by the general body as directors on PBA Board:

FM-107 (Sher Afsand Yar Khan), FM-106.2 (Shahid Jamal), FM-89 (Nazafreen S. Lakhani), FM-91 (Shazia Aamir) and FM-105 (Zulfiqar Ali Shah).

After that the Board meeting was convened and the BoD elected new office-bearers of PBA for the year 2020-2021, they are: Mian Amer Mahmood (Dunya TV) as Chairman, Salman Iqbal (ARY) as Senior Vice Chairman, Mir Ibrahim Rahman (Geo TV) as Vice Chairman, Ahmed Zuberi (Aaj TV) as Secretary General, Shakeel Masud Hussain (Dawn News) as Joint Secretary and Muhammad Athar Kazi (KTN) Finance Secretary. All the office-bearers were elected unopposed.