Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest: Journalists continue countrywide hunger strike

ISLAMABAD: The workers of Geo, Jang and The News on Saturday continued hunger strike camp on the call of the Joint Action Committee on second consecutive day for the release of Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman outside the offices of the Geo News in Islamabad.

Former president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Afzal Butt, senior correspondent The News Asim Yasin and Amjad Ali Abbasi of Jang sat on hunger strike at the hunger strike camp for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Secretary General PPP Parliamentarians Farhatullah Babar, media coordinator Nazir Dhoki, PPP Islamabad women wing leader Shahzada Kausar Gilani, Ifthikar Shahzad, President IHC Journalists Association Aamir Saeed Abbasi, ex-president IHC Journalists Association Asad Malik, Chairman Parliamentary Human Rights Commission Shafiq Chaudhry and ex-finance secretary National Press Club Sagheer Chaudhry visited the hunger strike camp to express solidarity with the workers of the Geo, Jang and The News.

Chairman Joint Action Committee of the workers of the Geo, Jang and The News and President Jang Workers Union Nasir Chishti, Bureau Chief Jang Islamabad Tahir Khalil, ex-president NPC and senior correspondent of The News Shakil Anjum, and from Jang Nadeem Khalid, Nusrat Malik, Munir Shah of Jang Rawalpindi and the workers of Geo, The News and Jang also participated in the camp.

Speaking on the occasion, Nayyer Bokhari said the PPP stands with the freedom of press. “The arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is illegal and even violation of the NAB’s own law,” he said.

The PPP leader said the NAB has crossed the line and violated its own law with arresting the Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

He said the advertisements of Jang group were also closed on during the martial law governments to mute the voice of truth.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said the PPP always stood with the workers of the Geo and Jang Group for the cause and freedom of expression. He said the freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Constitution and no one will be allowed to suppress the voice for free media. The PPP leader said the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is illegal and unconstitutional and through this arrest the message was given to the media, but the PPP wants to make it clear that there will be no compromise on media freedom.

President IHC Journalists Association Aamir Saeed Abbasi said the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is not an issue of Jang Group only, but of whole community of journalists. “If this happens with Jang Group then it could happen with other media houses also,” he said. Senior reporter of Dawn and ex-president IHC Journalists Association Asad Malik said it seems that victimisation was being made with such a fake case against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He said the NAB was used against the politicians now it was being used against the media to mute the freedom of expression.

In Karachi, the Jang Geo Action Committee warned on Saturday that their hunger strike campaign will continue until the release of Jang Geo Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and if the government did not set him free immediately then the protest will intensify and spread in every nook and corner of the country.

Speaking to the demonstration in Karachi, The News Employees Union President Saeed Muhiuddin Pasha said that the journalist community and trade unions will come up with a plan to hold protests across the country against the government's moves to supress the independent media.

Pasha said that intensifying the protest campaign came on the cards because the National Accountability Bureau did not seem to budge in withdrawing from its unlawful acts of victimising Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, surprisingly, in a 34-year-old case, which he was responding to religiously in respect of the law and justice.

He added that despite the local and international journalist community, trade unionists, proponents of free press and democracy's protest, the NAB was still bent on causing mental and physical harm to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman by continuously keeping him on remand in their custody without a fair reason. He said the if anything happened to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman then the anti-graft watchdog will be solely responsible for this. He said that it will be better that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman should be released immediately keeping in view the situation which the whole world is going through and the regard of the law which denounces harassment and victimization. The hunger strike camp in Karachi was joined by United Workers Federation's secretary general Liaquat Sahi, All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation's secretary general Shakil Yamin Kanga, Jang Employees Union's joint secretary Muhammad Arif, The News Employees Union's general secretary Zafar Dara, Javed Press Union's general secretary Rana Muhammad Yusuf, Muhammad Shoib, Naqeeb Ahmed, Muqaddar Shah, Israel Ansari, Ameer Ahmed and others.

In Lahore, renowned socio-political and religious personalities continued visiting the Jang Group employees hunger strike camp, set up outside the Jang building on Davis Road in protest against the arrest of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, on Saturday.

Naib Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch reached the camp to express solidarity with the striking employees and demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest.

While addressing the camp participants, Baloch termed the arrest illegal, adding that the Jang Group was being subjected to highhandedness for exposing the ruling party’s wrong-doings. He said that the institutions should tolerate criticism and the media should not be victimised.

The JI naib ameer said it was a demand of all religio-political parties and all segments of society that the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) should take notice of the media victimisation and the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

He said there was no case against Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and he was being deprived of justice. He also demanded immediate payment of arrears amounting to Rs6 billion to the media houses.

Separately, Jamiat Ahle Hadith leader Maulana Abdul Wahab Ropari and Islami Jamhoori Ittehad’s Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. They warned of holding a ‘hunger strike till death’ if the Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief was not provided justice immediately. Others who spoke on the occasion included Maulana Abdul Sattar Niazi, Maulana Mohammad Zahid, Maulana Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, Maulana Alhaaj Abdur Rehman, Allama Muhammad Mumtaz Awan, Hafiz Mian Mohammad Asghar, Mian Mohammad Akram and others.

A special prayer was also held for the departed soul of Jang Group’s late chairman Mir Javed Rahman.

The hunger strike camp participants included senior journalists Baidar Bakht Butt, Shaheen Qureshi, Maqsood Butt, Nasim Qureshi, Raees Ansari, Asif Mehmood Butt, Sher Ali and Jang Workers Union’s Secretary General Mohammad Farooq Awan, Senior Vice President Mohammad Arshad, Tariq Mushtaq, and Azeem Mughal.

Meanwhile, another hunger strike camp by senior journalist Azhar Munir and Awais Qarni for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is under way outside the Lahore Press Club.

In Bahawalpur, the Bahawalpur Union of Journalists (BhUJ) and Bahawalpur Press Club working journalists staged protest at the Press Club and later took out rally against the unlawful arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman by the NAB.

The protesting media persons were led by former vice president PFUJ and member FEC Muhammad Ameen Abbasi and former president Bahawalpur Press Club Tauseef Bhatti. The journalists raised slogans against the illegal arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and demanded his immediate release. Later these protesters staged sit-in for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and for the freedom of press. The protesters announced that their protest and hunger strike would continued till the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman who was arrested to control the Jang Group’s independent media policy.

In Peshawar, the media workers of the Jang, Geo and The News continued the protest camp for the 6th consecutive day against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The representatives of business community, including former president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Haji Ghulam Ali, Vice President of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce Qaiser Khan Daudzai, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Coordinator Sartaj Ahmed, Markaz-i-Tajiran KP President Malik Mehr Illahi and others visited the camp to express solidarity with the journalists.

Speaking on the occasion, Ghulam Ali said the government was using all tactics to subdue the press. "The Jag Group has tremendous contribution to the promotion of democracy in the country. The government must release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and provide incentives to the journalists," he added. He demanded the government to pay the dues of the newspapers forthwith. The other traders also termed Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest a bid to gag the press.

Peshawar Press Club President Syed Bukhar Shah condemned the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, saying the rulers were harassing the journalists to hide their own failures.

"Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is being punished for writing the truth but the rulers would not be able to pressurise him and other journalists. Our mission to make Pakistan a true democratic country will continue," he vowed. He demanded immediate release of the Jang Group editor-in-chief.

Media workers in Rahim Yar Khan also staged protest and hunger strike camp against the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and demanded his immediate release.