LONDON: Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and\nLabour politician Afzal Khan MP has called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to\nexplain why Geo and Jang Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been denied\nbasic human rights as a Pakistani while being in custody after arrested by\nNational Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a 34 years old private land buying case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter sent to the prime minister, the Manchester\nGorton has drawn PM Imran Khan\u2019s attention towards the fact that Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman has been in detention for six weeks in a private land purchase\ncase \u2013 a deal which occurred nearly four decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afzal Khan MP wrote: \u201cIt is my understanding that he (Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman) is currently detained over allegations which occurred over\nthirty years ago. He is also being put before the National Accountability\nBureau and not being tried in an ordinary court. As a former lawyer I find this\ndecision problematic, as I believe that everyone has the right to a fair trial.\nWhilst I fully respect the Pakistani judicial system, I hope Mr Rahman can be\ngranted his basic right to a fair and free trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Labour MP, who has served in senior positions in the\nShadow Labour cabinet and was recently promoted as Shadow Deputy Leader of the\nHouse of Commons under new Labour leader Keir Starmer, said that it was clear\nfrom the facts of the case that Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan\u2019s largest media\ngroup had been denied fundamental human rights in violation of NAB\u2019s own laws\non making arrests and investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afzal Khan MP has told the PM that his several constituents\nhad raised the issue of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman\u2019s arrest with him, requesting him\nto raise it with the Pakistani government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afzal Khan added: \u201cHis detention has been challenged by\npoliticians, journalists, lawyers, and human rights bodies across Pakistan and\nthe globe. As the Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pakistan,\nI would be obliged if you could look into this matter further and provide any\ndevelopment on his case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman\u2019s arrest has drawn worldwide\ncondemnation from media organisations to human rights groups and journalist organisations.\nHis arrest has been widely criticised by journalist groups as an attempt to\nmuzzle independent news reporting in Pakistan by the government in\ncollaboration with the NAB authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times said in a report that Geo and Jang\u2019s reporting\nhas been disliked by almost every ruler but the ruling party has shown\nparticular impatience with its coverage and vowed to go after Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman they came in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis arrest over a 34-year-old land deal makes a mockery of\nPakistan\u2019s claim to be a democracy that upholds freedom of the press,\u201d said\nSteven Butler, Asia Programme Coordinator for the Committee to Protect\nJournalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent\ngroup, has called the case \u201canother attempt to gag a beleaguered independent\npress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has denied allegations that he used\npolitical influence to obtain a Lahore property from a private party.\nOpposition in Pakistan has accused NAB of working at the behest of Imran Khan\u2019s\ngovernment to make cooked up cases against the people the PM doesn\u2019t like. The\ngovernments in Britain, Europe and America have also condemned Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman\u2019s arrest and the draconian methods used to silence Jang and\nGeo by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper: The\nNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON: Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and Labour politician Afzal Khan MP has called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain why Geo and Jang Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been denied basic human rights as a Pakistani while being in custody after arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a 34 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}