The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has deplored the arrest of Jang Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and asked the Government of Pakistan to release him.
The CJA is a voluntary professional association for working journalists throughout the Commonwealth, comprised of 53 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North and South America, and the Pacific.
"His arrest and detention by the National Accountability Bureau before substantive hearings have begun are contrary to the bureau’s established practice and are being widely seen as an attempt to intimidate the country’s largest independent media group," the statement issued by CJA read.
The organisation also denounced the parallel action by Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ( PEMRA) instructing all cable distributors in Pakistan to stop broadcasting Geo TV, or to switch its broadcasts to a different, less accessible channel.
"In another clear indication of the government’s pressurising of independent media — the Jang Group and the Dawn Media Group — owner of the leading English-language Dawn newspaper, have been suffering since January from a government decision to withdraw advertising as a sanction for their independent critical reporting on government policy and actions," the statement read.
"The CJA deplores these systematic attempts to penalise two of the leading independent media companies in Pakistan," it said.
"We call on the government to honour the commitments it made in the Commonwealth Charter, to uphold freedom of expression and a free media which is protected by law in its freedom to report and comment on public affairs,"the CJA said.
"The CJA urges Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the country’s democratically elected leader, to lift the present curbs on independent media and to establish an environment where the media can work without fear or arbitrary official reprisals and can play its proper part in the democratic government of Pakistan," the statement added.
On March 12, the NAB had arrested MSR in connection with property allegedly bought illegally from a government entity more than 34 years ago. The property was in fact bought from a private party 34 years ago and all evidence of this was given to the NAB and legal requirements fulfilled, such as duty and taxes.
According to a Jang Group spokesperson, the appearance before the NAB was in a relation to a call-up notice for the verification of the complaint, yet an arrest was made. Islamabad High Court's recent judgement against the NAB's violation of the country’s law and a violation of the NAB's own rules has been committed.
"In the past 18 months, NAB has sent our reporters, producers, and editors — directly and indirectly — over a dozen notices, threatening a shutdown of our channels (via PEMRA) due to our reporting and our programmes on NAB," said the spokesperson.
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