Protest continues against arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

PESHAWAR: The workers of Jang, Geo, The News continued protest against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman here on Wednesday. Holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the protesters demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil and withdrawal of cases against him. Chanting slogans against the government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for implicating the editor of the major media group in a 34 years old private property case, the workers vowed to continue highlighting the truth. Condemning the federal minister for tweeting against the editor of Jang Group, the speakers including Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakil Farman Ali, Sheeba Haidar, Imdad Ali Qazalbash and others said the minister’s tweet reflected mindset of the sitting rulers who were bent upon strangulating voice of the media. Coming down hard on the federal minister for ridiculing the media workers, they said the government and NAB could not prove a single case against Mir Shakil but detained him without registering the FIR against him. They said it was the first case where an accused had been detained for more than 100 days without any proof and without even completing investigation. The sitting rulers, they said, first stopped government advertisements, asked the cable operators to place Geo down on the list of channels and withheld the payment to punish workers. They vowed to continue struggle till the acceptance of their demands including release of Mir Shakil and withdrawal of cases against him.

They complained that the authorities had adopted silence over their just demands and warned to expand protest movement if Mir Shakil was not released forthwith.