Countrywide protests continue against arbitrary detention of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

RAWALPINDI: The countrywide protests by workers of the Geo-Jang Group against the deteriorating media environment, disruption of circulation of Daily Jang and The News, and the detention of Geo-Jang Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman on fabricated charges continued on Friday.

The countrywide protests by the Geo-Jang Group entered the 57th day on Friday, and political workers and others joined different protest camps of journalists and media organisations, carrying placards and raising slogans against the government’s crackdown on an independent media.

Addressing the protesters outside the offices of The News at Murree Road in Rawalpindi, speakers called for the release of the Editor-in-Chief and termed NAB laws as black laws that were only enacted for political engineering and vowed to continue their protest. 

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'MSR never bows down on freedom of press'

Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Nasir Zaidi, said the workers of Geo and Jang group are leading the struggle for the freedom of media along with Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

He said the Constitution protected the basic rights of citizens and no one would be allowed to impose curbs on the freedom of expression. Editor Jang Rawalpindi, Hanif Khalid, said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman always stood for the principles and never bowed down on the freedom of press.

Chairman Joint Action Committee of Workers of Geo and Jang Group, Nasir Chishti, said the protest camp was organized by the workers of Geo and Jang for the release of their editor.

Also read: Country-wide protests continue against detention of MSR

'Arrest attack on independent media'

Chief Reporter Jang Rawalpindi, Rana Ghulam Qadir, said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman will never compromise on his principles. He said those people who imposed the curbs on the freedom of media only tried to hide their real faces from the people of Pakistan.

In Karachi, religious leaders joined the protest by the Jang-Geo Action Committee outside the Jang-Geo offices in demanding the release of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and condemning the federal government’s campaign against the independent media.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Maulana Umar Sadiq said that the arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was an attack on the independence of media and a start of malicious campaign against the journalist community by the federal government. 

Also read: Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rahman comments on MSR's arrest, says NAB laws flawed in light of Shariah

'Accountability should be for everyone'

Sadiq said that through these tactics, the government wanted to blackmail the media houses to spread its narrative only, however, the advocates of the free press and independent society will not let these designs materialise and will raise voice against it at every forum. 

He said that the media was raising voice of the oppressed and underprivileged sections of the society and stood with them but the government did not like it. He said that accountability should be for everyone and under the guise of it no one should be persecuted.

Protests against the arbitrary detention of MSR were also held in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and other major cities across the country where political workers, journalists and trade unions demanded the immediate release of the veteran journalist.

Originally published in The News