Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest aimed to silence media: Minto

LAHORE: Abid Hassan Minto, Senior Advocate Supreme Court and senior leader of Awami Workers Party, has said that NAB is a tool to harass political people, it has stooped to the low level of trying to silence voices in the media and Editor-in-Chief of Jang Group of Newspapers and Geo TV Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s continued incarceration is the most glaring example.

Abid Minto hailed the Supreme Court’s order in Khawaja Saad Rafique case as a big milestone in the development of the law of bails in Pakistan. Not only is NABa tool to harass political people, it has stooped to the low level of trying to silence voices in the media also and Mir Shakeel-ur-Rahman’s continued incarceration is the most glaring example of this. Praising the Supreme Court order, he added that this order would hopefully go a long way in securing the release of all those who remain imprisoned even though they are presumed innocent under the law until proven guilty in court after a trial.

The law of bail as applied by courts till now has been a colonial legacy and provisions like Section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code which only allow bail to a restricted category of people have no place in Pakistan since they are in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

He hoped that this judgment will be the first one towards changing the law of bail in Pakistan and bringing it in line with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.