Labour unions, cable operators demand early release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

KARACHI: Demanding the release of Editor-in-Chief Jang-Geo Group, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, an office-bearer of the Insaf Labour Union said on Monday he was being punished for independent editorial policy. He said the entire labour force and the Insaf Labour Union fully demanded his release and operationalization of Pak Steels.

Expressing solidarity with the Jang-Geo Group workers, a representative of the Pak Steel Labour Union said Mir Shakil was paying the price for refusing to toe the government’s micromanagement of the group’s editorial policy.

Strongly criticising the over four-month-long detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, President of Pakistan Cable Operators Association, Khalid Arain, said the Jang-Geo Group had always been persecuted by autocratic rulers and dictators for defying the ‘government sanctioned truth’. He termed it unprecedented that the government had specifically targeted the Editor-in-Chief which is deplorable and kept him detained for over four months without a case or an FIR. Arain also criticized Pemra for shutting down the Geo News in some places and relegating it back to later numbers.

The cable operators association demanded his honourable release and withdrawal of fabricated cases. He demanded that Mir Shakil must be released on humanitarian grounds to join the funeral of his sister who had passed away in London.