LONDON: Senior
journalists Hamid Mir and Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami have said that the arrest of
Geo and Jang Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in a 34 years old case by the
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is a demonstration of how draconian laws
are being used to punish the people the government doesn’t like to bring media
under control using completely unethical means.

Both Hamid Mir and
Mr Shami were speaking as guests online of Overseas Pakistani Journalists
Action Committee (OPJAC) which has members from UK, Europe and North America.

Addressing the
journalists’ body on Zoom conferencing, senior journalist Hamid Mir voiced his
concerns over how both Pakistan and India were becoming less tolerant of
objective journalism and had both fallen in the latest Press Freedom Index.

Hamid Mir discussed
how India was taking advantage of the COVID-19 lockdown and increased its
propaganda and hostilities in Kashmir. “India is inciting violence against
Pakistan in a mechanised way. While the world is focused on fighting COVID-19,
India is using terror groups to destablise Pakistan by attacking Pakistan
security forces, recent attacks in Balochistan are a proof. In occupied
Kashmir, India has silenced media to further suppress Kashmiris demanding
freedom,” he said.

Hamid Mir said that
regional dynamics would also impact press freedom in Pakistan but he raised
concern over how some individual journalists including him were targeted over
the years on false grounds.

Talking about the
recent controversy over Maulana Tariq Jamil’s comments, Hamid Mir said that it
was unfortunate that a social media campaign was orchestrated against him,
Kamran Shahid, Muhammad Malick, Javed Chaudhry and others even though he did
not even ask Tariq Jamil to apologise. “I never asked Maulana Tariq Jamil to
apologise but a false campaign was started making allegations,” he said.

When asked whether
the government should make legislation against such harassment, Hamid Mir
advised against it explaining that such legislation would instead be used as a
sword against journalists who wanted to continue objective reporting and
instead advised journalists to use the courts to seek justice.

The issue of
Jang/Geo Editor-in-Cheif’s imprisonment was also discussed with both Hamid Mir
and Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami condemning it as an attack on press freedom in
Pakistan.

Mujib-ur-Rehman
Shami explained how he had also been a victim of false cases in the past and
strongly condemned the illegal detention of Mir Shakeel-ur-Rahman. He mentioned
how the case seemed to be mala fide considering that it was almost 40 years old
and how no case had been brought against MSR even after more than 60 days of
detention. He said there was unanimity of opinion that there is no case against
MSR and that he’s being punished to satisfy the egos of a few powerful people
who are in incharge and can do what they like.

Shami said that he
had seen different phases of media and the challenges it faced but the
challenges confronted currently are unique. He said the current government is
responsible for enforcing a financial crackdown on media to cut it to size but
at the same time the whole country is suffering as a result of the economic
meltdown. He said the crises will further increase in coming days.

The Overseas
Pakistani Journalists Action Committee is an independent body of journalists
formed with journalists from multiple media organisations to address the
concerns of journalists. The committee demanded that the government should
announce a financial package for media workers as it had done for other
industries.

Newspaper: The News