Protest rallies in Sindh against Mir Shakil’s arrest

SUKKUR: Sindh Journalists’ Council and Small Traders Union Sukkur have taken out a protest rally against the arbitrary arrest of editor-in-chief Jang/Geo group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. After marching on the streets, the rally terminated at the Ghanta Ghar, Sukkur. It was led by senior journalists Sahil Jogi, KB Sheikh and President Sukkur Small Traders Union Javeed Memon. While addressing the rally, the journalists’ leaders said the photo of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman taken in the lock-up was a question mark on the credibility of the NAB.

The protesters claimed that the media campaign against Mir Shakil was illegal. They said the NAB was also pressurising the cable operators to change Geo News from its position and relocate it in the last of the list. They said the journalists despite representing different news outlets are united against any attempt to curb the media by the authorities. They said morally and constitutionally, the NAB has no right to harass a man who had been positively responding to their call-up notices. They said the NAB in a plea of 35-year-old property case against the editor-in-chief of Jang/Geo groups, because he refused to follow the guidelines of the PTI government. The protesters demanded early release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Small Traders Union Sukkur President Javed Memon said the government was trying to divert the attention of the people from its incompetency through these tactics. They said the media was doing its responsibility very well. Sukkur Union of Journalists (SUJ) also took out a protest rally, while other rallies were organised in Naushahro Feroze, Badin, Larkana, Jacobabad and other cities of Sindh.