Demand renewed for release of Chief Editor

PESHAWAR: The media workers continued the protest against the illegal detention of Jang/Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman here on Saturday and renewed the demand for his release.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans to highlight the demands. They were chanting slogans against the government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The protesters said the editor-in-chief of the biggest media group of the country had been arrested for the last 122 days without any crime. They said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was arrested even when the investigations into the 34 years old property case had not been completed. The speakers including Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, Shah Zaman and others said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was cooperating with NAB and all the documents had been in the possession of the bureau but still, he was being denied justice.

They said the government should have conducted accountability of the corrupt and those involved in the mega corruption scandals. The speakers recalled that the leaders and representatives of almost all the major political parties and organizations had visited their protest camp and each and everyone, including prominent legal experts and lawyers had termed Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman detention as illegal and unconstitutional. Terming the rejection of the bail by the Lahore High Court to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman deplorable and disappointing, the speakers appealed to the chief justice Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the case and provide justice to the editor-in-chief of a major media group.