Hunger strike by journalists enters third day

PESHAWAR: The workers of the Jang Group continued the hunger strike camp on the third consecutive day on Wednesday to protest the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, and demand the government to free him forthwith.

The camp is arranged outside the offices of Daily Jang, The News and Geo in the provincial capital to seek the release of the head of the largest media group of the country.

As the camp was in its third day, the protesters were carrying placards and banners that condemned the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, attacks on the press freedom by the government and its moves to murder journalists economically.

They chanted slogans to condemn the arrest of the Jang Group editor-in-chief in a 34-year-old property case that involved the private parties.

The members of the KP Parliamentary Reporters Association joined the camp on the third day to condemn the arrest and express solidarity with the workers of the Jang, Geo and The News. General Secretary of the association, Gulzar Muhammad Khan, spoke on the occasion.

Gulzar said the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was made only to punish the Jang Group for pursuing independent journalism and unveiling the truth.

He said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman represented a free media and hoped government’s actions would not stop the Jang Media Group and other journalists from reporting the truth.

KP Parliamentary Reporters Association office-bearer stressed the role of a free media in democracy and said nobody could deny that fact. Others speakers said Prime Minister Imran Khan was on record for acknowledging that his rise to power was due to the free media that always gave him a platform to reach out to the masses.

They said that now that when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was in power, it was pressuring the free media to toe its line, adding the arrest of the Jang Media Group chief clearly proved that point beyond any doubt.

The protesters demanded the government to end the revengeful actions against the Jang Media Group and free Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman without any further delay.