RAWALPINDI: The
workers of Geo, Jang and The News along with representatives of civil society,
political workers continued their countrywide protest on the 54th day against
the illegal arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Shakil-Ur-Rahman
and pledged to continue their struggle till his release. Carrying banners and
placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the participants
chanted slogans, demanding the immediate release of Mir Shakil and the
withdrawal of cases against him.
Addressing the
protest outside the offices of Jang and The News at the Murree Road in
Rawalpindi, Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ)
Nasir Zaidi said the journalists through their countrywide protests have given
a clear message to the government that there will be no compromise on the
freedom of media. He said: “We have given sacrifices for the freedom of press
and are ready to render further sacrifices for it but will not let anyone to
mute our voices.” The former president PFUJ, Afzal Butt, said conspiracies were
always hatched against the Jang Group but the resistance of the Group’s workers
always foiled the attempts to shut down the Geo News, dailies Jang and The
News. He said the workers of the group are backed by international journalists
and human rights organisations who are watching the entire episode with serious
concern. The Chairman Joint Action Committee and President Jang Workers Union
Nasir Chisti said the struggle for the freedom of press will continue till the
goal of freedom of media is achieved. The chief reporter Jang, Rana Ghulam
Qadir, said Mir Shakil’s resolute struggle and his personal sacrifices for an
independent media will go down in history in golden words.
Secretary General
RIUJ and senior correspondent of Geo News Asif Ali Bhatti said the peaceful
protests of workers of Geo and Jang Group should not taken as a weakness.
“We believe in peaceful protest which is our strength,” he said and
added the time is not far away when we will achieve our constitutional rights
to free speech.
Senior correspondent
of The News Asim Yasin and media worker of daily Jang Munir Shah said the
Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group has become an icon for the freedom of
press. Strongly criticising his persecution, they said this is for the first
time since ’80s that a journalist has been put under arrest and it is
particularly concerning that it has happened under a democratic dispensation.
In Karachi, student
bodies joined the protest by the Jang-Geo Action Committee in demanding liberation
of media from excessive and draconian restrictions and the release of Mir
Shakil-ur-Rahman.
Condemning the
federal government for muzzling the independent media, the Muslim Students
Federation’s general secretary, South, Shahid Tanoli, said that an independent
media was the only trustworthy awareness generating element in a free and
democratic society. He said that the Jang-Geo Group always paid for its
commitment to mirror the ground realities, which has this time led to the
uncalled-for and unjust arrest of the group’s editor-in-chief.
The News Union
General Secretary, Dara Zafar, said that the “NAB-Niazi nexus” had
added another painful chapter in the history of attacks against the freedom of
expression. He said that it was a blow to democracy that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman
was languishing in jail for the past 54 days. Zafar reminded Prime Minister
Imran Khan of his lavish praises for the Jang-Geo Group before coming into
power and said but quickly picked up cudgel against the very media house that exposed
his government’s ineptitude and corruption. Zafar said first the government
tried to cripple the media financially turning the media workers jobless and
without salaries for extended periods. He demanded immediate release of
advertisement arrears running into billions of rupees and abolishing trumped up
charges Rahman. Others who spoke at the demonstration included All Pakistan
Newspapers Employees Confederation secretary general Shakil Yamin Kanga, Javed
Press Union general secretary Rana Yusuf, The News Union president Saeed
Muhiuddin Pasha and MSF Information Secretary Nadir Khan.
In Peshawar, the
workers of Jang, Geo and The News continued their protest for the 54th
consecutive day against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir
Shakil-ur-Rahman outside their offices on Tuesday. Carrying banners and
placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the participants
chanted slogans demanding the immediate release of Mir Shakil and the
withdrawal of cases against him.
Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial spokesman Abdul Jalil Jan who visited the
camp to extend solidarity with the Jang Group workers, condemned Rahman’s
illegal detention in a three-decade-old property case.
Journalists Arshad
Aziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali and others in their separate speeches condemned
detention of Mir Shakil. They posed a question as to what type of democracy was
this where the independent press was being strangulated. They asked the chief
justice of the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of Mir Shakil’s case and
provide him justice.
Also in Lahore, the
Jang-Geo Group workers staged a protest for the release of their
Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman who has been arrested unfairly by the NAB.
They were joined by a large number of workers along with representatives of
civil society and labour leaders. Holding placards, they chanted slogans asking
the government to free Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and pledged they would never give
up their effort to bring the truth to the fore and would remain at war with the
authorities until they set Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman free.
“We expect the court
to treat Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s case fairly,” said President Lahore Press Club
Arshad Ansari, in his speech on the occasion. Shaheen Qureshi, a veteran in
Jang Group, said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has a long history of standing up for
freedom of expression. “The Jang-Geo Group faced clampdowns in the past but
this government has broken all records of suppression,” he said. Abdullah
Malik, president Civil Society Network, condemned the government for its
high-handed approach and called it a bid to muzzle the media’s voice. Labour
leader Niaz Khan also addressed the rally and flayed the coercive tactics of
the government to control media.
Similarly in Multan,
the civil society activists and the Multan Union of Journalists members
condemned the arrest of group’s Editor-in-Chief. A delegation of MUJ led by
Shafqat Butha visited the protest camp and expressed solidarity with the Daily
Jang, Geo News and The News workers.
Likewise in Bahawalpur,
the Geo News, daily Jang, and The News workers action committee members,
Bahawalpur Union of Journalists and Bahawalpur Press Club members continued
their weeks’ long protests for muzzling the independent media and for stopping
the persecution of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.
Newspaper: The
News
