MULTAN: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday said that sending Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to jail is government’s message to the media that if “you speak the truth, the same fate awaits you”.

“The government is so obsessed with the media that it has used every tactic to put curbs on it,” he said, adding that this is not only applicable to Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as the overall situation of the media is bad. “His (Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s) newspaper portrays the truth. They tried to stop him from telling the truth. And when they failed, they made a fake case against him,” he said, adding that all know the failures of the government which was formed after controversial elections.

“The government cannot bear criticism. All of you must have seen that they have shifted the Geo News to the last numbers on cable TV,” he said. “What happened on Thursday I believe is the darkest chapter in the history of Pakistan’s democracy,” he noted. The former premier vowed that in these times of distress, he would stand with the media fraternity.

Shedding light on cases made against the PML-N leadership, he said: “Imran Khan has not been able to prove corruption against us even after 1.5 years. They cannot scare the PML-N by putting its leadership behind the bars,” he added.