Protest continues against arrest of Editor-in-Chief

PESHAWAR: The media workers called for the release of Editor-in-Chief of the Jang/Geo Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as they continued the protest against his release on Sunday.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans to highlight their demands. They were critical of the anti-media policy of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and over five months-long detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Senior journalist Arshad Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali, Muhammad Shahid, Gulzar Khan, Qaiser Khan, Rasool Drawar and others spoke on the occasion. They said Mir Shakil had been detained in a 34-year-old property case without fulfilling the legal requirements.

Flaying the government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for detaining Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, they said those in power were trying to silence the media through such tactics. They said the NAB had no jurisdiction to detain Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a three-decade-old property case. The protesters said the so-called anti-graft body was selective in its actions and had always ignored those massive corruption scandals, which were linked to in the ruling party. The speakers deplored that the rulers had left behind the dictators in the anti-media policy. They said the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman clearly explained the mindset of the rulers.

The protesters said the representatives of almost all the political parties, lawyers, doctors and people belonging to different walks of life visited their protest camp and termed the government action as illegal and unconstitutional.

They appealed to the chief justice Supreme Court to intervene in the matter and provide justice to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.