RAWALPINDI: The\nworkers of Geo, Jang and The News along with representatives of civil society,\npolitical workers continued their countrywide protest on the 54th day against\nthe illegal arrest of Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group Shakil-Ur-Rahman\nand pledged to continue their struggle till his release. Carrying banners and\nplacards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the participants\nchanted slogans, demanding the immediate release of Mir Shakil and the\nwithdrawal of cases against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the\nprotest outside the offices of Jang and The News at the Murree Road in\nRawalpindi, Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ)\nNasir Zaidi said the journalists through their countrywide protests have given\na clear message to the government that there will be no compromise on the\nfreedom of media. He said: \u201cWe have given sacrifices for the freedom of press\nand are ready to render further sacrifices for it but will not let anyone to\nmute our voices.\u201d The former president PFUJ, Afzal Butt, said conspiracies were\nalways hatched against the Jang Group but the resistance of the Group’s workers\nalways foiled the attempts to shut down the Geo News, dailies Jang and The\nNews. He said the workers of the group are backed by international journalists\nand human rights organisations who are watching the entire episode with serious\nconcern. The Chairman Joint Action Committee and President Jang Workers Union\nNasir Chisti said the struggle for the freedom of press will continue till the\ngoal of freedom of media is achieved. The chief reporter Jang, Rana Ghulam\nQadir, said Mir Shakil’s resolute struggle and his personal sacrifices for an\nindependent media will go down in history in golden words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary General\nRIUJ and senior correspondent of Geo News Asif Ali Bhatti said the peaceful\nprotests of workers of Geo and Jang Group should not taken as a weakness.\n“We believe in peaceful protest which is our strength,” he said and\nadded the time is not far away when we will achieve our constitutional rights\nto free speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior correspondent\nof The News Asim Yasin and media worker of daily Jang Munir Shah said the\nEditor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group has become an icon for the freedom of\npress. Strongly criticising his persecution, they said this is for the first\ntime since ’80s that a journalist has been put under arrest and it is\nparticularly concerning that it has happened under a democratic dispensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Karachi, student\nbodies joined the protest by the Jang-Geo Action Committee in demanding liberation\nof media from excessive and draconian restrictions and the release of Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemning the\nfederal government for muzzling the independent media, the Muslim Students\nFederation\u2019s general secretary, South, Shahid Tanoli, said that an independent\nmedia was the only trustworthy awareness generating element in a free and\ndemocratic society. He said that the Jang-Geo Group always paid for its\ncommitment to mirror the ground realities, which has this time led to the\nuncalled-for and unjust arrest of the group’s editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The News Union\nGeneral Secretary, Dara Zafar, said that the “NAB-Niazi nexus” had\nadded another painful chapter in the history of attacks against the freedom of\nexpression. He said that it was a blow to democracy that Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman\nwas languishing in jail for the past 54 days. Zafar reminded Prime Minister\nImran Khan of his lavish praises for the Jang-Geo Group before coming into\npower and said but quickly picked up cudgel against the very media house that exposed\nhis government’s ineptitude and corruption. Zafar said first the government\ntried to cripple the media financially turning the media workers jobless and\nwithout salaries for extended periods. He demanded immediate release of\nadvertisement arrears running into billions of rupees and abolishing trumped up\ncharges Rahman. Others who spoke at the demonstration included All Pakistan\nNewspapers Employees Confederation secretary general Shakil Yamin Kanga, Javed\nPress Union general secretary Rana Yusuf, The News Union president Saeed\nMuhiuddin Pasha and MSF Information Secretary Nadir Khan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Peshawar, the\nworkers of Jang, Geo and The News continued their protest for the 54th\nconsecutive day against the arrest of their Editor-in-Chief Mir\nShakil-ur-Rahman outside their offices on Tuesday. Carrying banners and\nplacards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, the participants\nchanted slogans demanding the immediate release of Mir Shakil and the\nwithdrawal of cases against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamiat\nUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial spokesman Abdul Jalil Jan who visited the\ncamp to extend solidarity with the Jang Group workers, condemned Rahman’s\nillegal detention in a three-decade-old property case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalists Arshad\nAziz Malik, Shakeel Farman Ali and others in their separate speeches condemned\ndetention of Mir Shakil. They posed a question as to what type of democracy was\nthis where the independent press was being strangulated. They asked the chief\njustice of the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of Mir Shakil\u2019s case and\nprovide him justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in Lahore, the\nJang-Geo Group workers staged a protest for the release of their\nEditor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman who has been arrested unfairly by the NAB.\nThey were joined by a large number of workers along with representatives of\ncivil society and labour leaders. Holding placards, they chanted slogans asking\nthe government to free Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and pledged they would never give\nup their effort to bring the truth to the fore and would remain at war with the\nauthorities until they set Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe expect the court\nto treat Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman\u2019s case fairly,\u201d said President Lahore Press Club\nArshad Ansari, in his speech on the occasion. Shaheen Qureshi, a veteran in\nJang Group, said Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has a long history of standing up for\nfreedom of expression. \u201cThe Jang-Geo Group faced clampdowns in the past but\nthis government has broken all records of suppression,\u201d he said. Abdullah\nMalik, president Civil Society Network, condemned the government for its\nhigh-handed approach and called it a bid to muzzle the media\u2019s voice. Labour\nleader Niaz Khan also addressed the rally and flayed the coercive tactics of\nthe government to control media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly in Multan,\nthe civil society activists and the Multan Union of Journalists members\ncondemned the arrest of group’s Editor-in-Chief. A delegation of MUJ led by\nShafqat Butha visited the protest camp and expressed solidarity with the Daily\nJang, Geo News and The News workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise in Bahawalpur,\nthe Geo News, daily Jang, and The News workers action committee members,\nBahawalpur Union of Journalists and Bahawalpur Press Club members continued\ntheir weeks’ long protests for muzzling the independent media and for stopping\nthe persecution of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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 […]<\/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\/8981"}],"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=8981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}