Protest for Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s release continues

LAHORE/PESHAWAR: Media workers on Saturday continued their protest against the unlawful detention of Jang/Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

They gathered at a protest camp set up outside the Jang offices on the Davis Road and chanted slogans against Prime Minister Imran Khan and the National Accountability Bureau. They termed the detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman a result of NAB-Niazi nexus. The demonstrators appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take a suo motu notice of the unlawful detention in a decades-old fake property case.

Senior journalist Zaheer Anjum said people are getting fed up and losing their patience because of selective accountability. He said journalists have vowed to continue their protest against the unlawful detention till the release Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

Sher Ali Khalti said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is being victimized as he is the torchbearer of freedom of press in the country. He appreciated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for praising the struggle of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and his call for his release.

Awais Qarni and Farooq Awan demanded immediate release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. Muhammad Ali, Javed Ahmed, Aziz Sheikh, Allah Rakha, Zubair, Khalid Khattak, Ramaish, Munawwar Hussain, Afzal Abbas, Muhammad Rehan, Ayesha Ikram, Mohammad Ali, Zahid Mahmood, Munawwar Hussain, Muhammad Shafiq, Romeo Jalib, Shahid Aziz and Humayoun Zaman Mirza also attended the protest demonstration.

In Peshawar, journalists renewed the demand for the release of the Jang Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as they continued the protest against his arrest.

Carrying banners and placards, they gathered outside the offices of the Daily Jang, The News and Geo TV to register anger at the detention. Peshawar Press Club Chairman Syed Bukhar Shah led the protest, being staged regularly since the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman on March 12 of this year.

Syed Bukhar Shah, Shakeel Farman Ali, Ehtesham Toru, Qaiser Khan, Shah Zaman and others spoke on the occasion. They condemned the incarceration of the head of the largest media group of the country for the last over seven months. The speakers were critical of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government for victimising the Jang Media Group and its chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a bid to force them to go pliant.

The speakers deplored that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman had been behind bars for the last 220 days in a case, which was over three decades-old.

They said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was biased and accused the anti-graft body of targeting the opposition political parties and the independent media allegedly at the best of the PTI government.

The speakers pointed out that the NAB did not take any notice of the massive corruption scandals such as wheat flour, sugar, Malam Jabba land, Billion Tree Tsunami and Bus Rapid Transit Project despite the fact that these were no longer a secret. They implored the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take notice of the case and provide justice to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.