Jang/Geo workers continue protest against arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

RAWALPINDI/KARACHI/PESHAWAR/LAHORE: The protest of journalists and workers of Jang and Geo Group along with the cross section of civil society, political workers and media organisations continued on Saturday against the illegal arrest of Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The protesters raised slogans for the release of the Editor-in-Chief and pledged that the protest will continue till the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and achieving freedom of media.

Addressing the protest camp outside the offices of Jang and The News in Rawalpindi, Chairman Joint Action Committee and President Jang Workers Union Nasir Chishti said the struggle for freedom of press will continue till the achieving the goal. He said the international human rights, journalist organisations and intellectuals were declaring the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman an attack on media and demanding his immediate release.

He said the Jang Group was made target only for bringing the truth and facts before he people and rulers did not like that and they arrested Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to put him under pressure. “But Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman refused to bow under pressure,” he said.

Senior Reporter Jang Rawalpindi Rana Ghulam Qadir said the government was targeting the employees of Geo and Jang Group by imposing financial restrictions. He said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was not an owner of Geo and Jang Group alone but a professional journalist as well. He said those who believe in the supremacy of the Constitution and law were standing with the Editor-in-Chief of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in his mission of freedom of media. The RIUJ Secretary General and senior correspondent of the Geo News Asif Ali Bhatti said the Editor-in-Chief has now become a symbol of resistance and freedom of media. He said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was arrested in fake and fabricated case. He said the peaceful protest of the workers of Geo and Jang Group was only for getting the freedom of media.

Former president PFUJ Afzal Butt said the journalists and media workers stood firm with Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and will continue the struggle till his release. He said the matter is now with the higher judiciary and they are hopeful to get justice for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Senior Cameraman of Geo News Shiraz Gardezi said the Editor-in-Chief stood firm on his principles and workers of Geo and Jang Group along with journalists organisations will also stand with him.

The protest for release of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman continued on its 51st day outside the Jang/Geo offices in Karachi as leaders of political parties, trade unionists, civil society and human rights activists and journalist converged to express solidarity with the employees of the news group in their campaign to protect the independence of media in the country.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Mufti Faiz said that Prime Minister Imran Khan launched his campaign against media from his container when his cohorts broke the cameras of news channels and threatened the journalists and now he had advanced it by detaining Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to pressure him for giving up his independent editorial policies.

Referring to the Geo News slogans of Geo Aur Jeene Do (Live And Let Live), Faiz wondered what the government wanted to achieve against a media institution which portrayed truth of the society. He said that the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was an attack on the already fragile independence of the media.

He warned that government that its malice towards the independent media will get it into trouble. He said that his party stood with the workers of the Jang and Geo Group along with the cross section of the society which wanted to sustain the democracy and freedom of expression. He said that already the policies of the government were anti-people.

He said that the government had expanded the divide between the rich and the poor and instead of holding accountable the people responsible for looting the public, such as his aides Jahangir Tareen and Khusro Bakhtiar, it was running a vengeful campaign against the dissent voices and political rivals.

All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation Secretary General Shakil Yamin Kanga said that instead of upgrading the living standard of a common person in the country, the government had invested all its energies in its vendetta and was bent on snatching the livelihood of media workers.

Kanga said that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was being punished for he always supported the truth and the right and on the same principles ran his news group. He said that the previous governments also tried to took the Jang and Geo Group under pressure through these tactics but they never succeed. He demanded the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and conduct an independent inquiry into the case.

The Intellectual Forum Pakistan patron Muhammad Aslam Khan said that 52 days onto the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman yet the National Accountability Bureau has nothing against him. Aslam Khan said that this act was a sheer violation of the fundamental rights of a person and an illegal use of the authority. He demanded that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman should immediately be released.

Karachi City Sports Association’s secretary general Khalid Rahmani said that whole world was watching what the government was doing to the credible and the largest media group of the country. He said that the news group had a global reach and people trusted its editorial policies and news and the government will never accomplish its goal of controlling it.

All Pakistan Homeopathic Alliance chairman Siddiq Tahir said that the government has hit the independence of media by arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a 34-year-old private transaction. Tahir said that it is a conspiracy to gag the media in the country and to render the media workers jobless.

The News Employees Union General Secretary Dara Zafar said that the government wanted to hide the truth from the public and that is why it was targeting the Jang Geo Group. He said that the government should stop living a lie because in the end only the truth prevails. He demanded that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman should be released from the prison.

In Peshawar, the Jang/Geo workers continued to protest against the arrest of the Editor-in-Chief outside their offices.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the protesters chanted slogans against the government and the NAB.

They said the PTI government used the national institutions against its political opponents and independent media to suppress their voice. Speaking on the occasion, In-charge admin Sardar Imdad Ali Qazalbash and others said the government arrested Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a property case that was decided between two parties some 34 years back.

They said it was astonishing to note that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother former chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif were released on bail but Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was denied the bail.

The said that by arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the government wanted to pressure the Jang Group into silence. Imdad Ali demanded the immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and withdrawal of cases against him. He also demanded the government to release Jang Group’s pending dues that had been withheld as it had multiplied the problems of its employees.

He said the workers would continue to protest till the acceptance of their demands and release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He said the leaders of almost all political parties, prominent lawyers, members of the civil society organisations and representatives of all social, trade and cultural outfits extended support to them, saying the international media were also monitoring this case, which was earning a bad name for the country.

Seeking release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the workers of Jang/Geo Group and people belonging to different walks of life in Lahore have condemned what they called an attack on media freedom. The protest outside the Jang building has been a regular feature where workers as well as different personalities raise voice against the arrest of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Speaking at the demonstration on Saturday, Rana Arshad of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the whole leadership of the party including Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif are standing with the Jang/Geo Group at this time of intimidation by the government. The PML-N condemns curbs on free media and demands immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. He alleged that the government is not releasing six billion rupees of media organizations and various functionaries are involved in misappropriation. He vowed that the party would continue struggle for the early release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Other speakers were of the view that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman had not only been fighting for the free press but was also ensuring freedom of expression for the whole society. “We wholeheartedly support his cause,” they said and added the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman lacked any legal backing. “Our movement for the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman would continue unabated as this cause is for the freedom of press,” they said.

Senior members of the Jang/Geo Group including Shaheen Qureshi, Raees Ansari, Maqsood Butt, Khalid Farooqi and others were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the British Pakistani Lawyers Forum (BPLF) has criticized the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. BPLF spokesperson Barrister Naseem Bajwa said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman should be released immediately on bail till the hearing of his case is not started at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.