Jang Geo Group workers continue protest against Editor-in-Chief's arrest

Employees of the Jang and Geo Group continued their countrywide protests on Friday against the arrest of the Group's Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman (MSR).

Responding to a call issued by the Joint Action Committee, employees of the group gathered in large numbers in Islamabad to register their protest against the arrest of MSR. 

They were joined by journalists from other media groups, political leaders, representatives from the civil society, human rights activists, labour unions and others. 

Also read: Journalists continue countrywide protest against Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman's arrest

JI leader Mian Muhammad Aslam, addressing the gathering in the federal capital, said that MSR's arrest was a clear case of victimisation. 

“They [the rulers] did not like criticism and when the Jang Group presented the truth before the nation, and the rulers started to threaten the media,” he said.

Aslam said the government had attacked the freedom of the media through the arrest, as the Jang and Geo Group was the largest media house in the country. 

Also read: PEMRA issues show cause notice to Geo News for 'airing unipolarity of views'

Secretary General of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Nasir Zaidi, said that a free media represented the strength of the democracy in the country, but it seemed that the rulers did not like freedom of the press.

Ex-chairman PFUJ, Afzal Butt, said that the movement for media freedoms had just begun, and already achieved success, after the courts ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to restore Geo to its original position on TV channel listings. 

Chairman Joint Action Committee, Nasir Chishti, noted that media workers had launched movements for their freedom during dictatorships in the past as well - be they military or civilian.

Also read: Editor-in-chief of largest media group in Pakistan arrested by NAB in fake case

“When Ziaul Haq failed to stop us then, how can they stop us from getting our rights,” he said, alluding to the dictatorial policies of the former military ruler. 

He expressed the hope that MSR would soon be released as the workers of the Jang and Geo Group stood resolutely with their Editor-in-Chief.

Senior Reporter at Jang, Rana Ghulam Qadir, described the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman as akin to the economic murder of 8,000 families. 

Also read: 'Attack on freedom of press': PPP to become party in Geo News case

“You are not paying Rs3 billion in dues to the media, which is like the economic murder of media workers,” he said. 

Ex-secretary general of RIUJ, Bilal Dar, noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan used to issue threats from his container during the 2014 dharna that his government would arrest MSR and the political leaders who opposed him. 

Senior Reporter at The News, Asim Yasin, said that NAB had violated all of its own laws to arrest MSR.

Also read: Jang Group CEO Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman appears before NAB Lahore

Lahore

In Lahore, journalists and workers associated with the Group also continued their protests on Friday. 

The main demonstration was held on Sir Agha Khan Road outside the offices of Jang Group, where workers chanted slogans against the incumbent rulers for victimising the chief of the largest media group in the country. 

Demonstrators held banners and placards with slogans that spoke of resisting the government's moves to usurp media freedoms, and warned that rulers will ultimately face frustration and humiliation in their desire to suppress the freedom of expression.

Addressing the protestors, Editor Awaz Khalid Farooqi said history bore testimony to the fact that all governments the world over had to face defeat in their efforts to contain the freedom of expression. 

He said that in a democratic world, a free media had always won freedom from oppressive rulers whenever they attacked the freedom of expression. 

He said that MSR had repeatedly been made a target by different governments but never backed down under their threats. 

He lamented that all previous governments, in one way or the other, had tried to curb and tame the Group since it had been the most prominent voice of the freedom of expression in the country.

Geo Bureau Chief Raees Ansari said fascist regimes always tried to eliminate those exposing their faults and corruption, and for speaking truth to power. 

He regretted that the PTI government, which had always claimed to be the champion of democracy and freedom of the press in the past, was now bent upon using dirty and cheap tactics against the media to suppress the freedom of expression. 

He warned that protest campaign would be ramped up if MSR was not released immediately.

Jang Chief Reporter Maqsood Butt said the PTI government had failed terribly in providing the basic necessities of life to citizens, but was instead bent upon gagging the voice of the Jang and Geo Group since it had been exposing the failed policies of the PTI government. 

He said Pemra and NAB had become symbols of oppression against the free media and freedom of expression, since both of them were being used as a weapon to suppress the voice of dissent and truth. 

He said MSR had become a symbol of resistance for the free media in the country, and that the more the rulers victimise him, the more he will gain in popularity and success.

President Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society, Wasif Nagi, said that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman had been the voice of freedom of press in the past, and he would continue to brave the victimisation of the PTI government and emerge from his present incarceration as a hero in the fight for the freedom of expression in Pakistan. 

Karachi

In Karachi, former chairman Senate and PPP central leader, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, said the increasingly fascistic tendencies of the current government were forcing the country’s political parties, civil society groups, trade unions and journalists to launch a joint protest at the country level.

Rabbani expressed the views as a show of solidarity with journalists protesting at the Jang building at II Chundrigar Road. 

Rabbani, accompanied by PPP Sindh Secretary General Waqar Mehdi, denounced the government’s coercive actions against a media which is struggling to survive under trying circumstances.

He described Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman’s arrest as an attack on Article 19 of the Constitution. 

Rabbani said the government had intensified its attack on the Jang-Geo group, which could no more be tolerated. 

“The government is pressurising each and every institution to bring it under its subordination. We will not allow the government to carry on with its fascist policies,” he said. 

Rabbani said the PTI government started attacking the institutions of the state, beginning from parliament, and has now trained its guns against the media that informs and brings awareness to the nation.

Meanwhile, participants at the protest carried placards and raised slogans for the release of MSR and the full restoration of Geo News on the cable network. 

Originally published in The News