Country-wide protests continue against detention of MSR

ISLAMABAD: Political leaders, rights bodies, and news media organisations on Thursday continued to condemn the arbitrary arrest of Jang-Geo Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman.

The countrywide protest of the workers of the Jang-Geo group on the call of a Joint Action Committee continued on Wednesday against the unlawful arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. 

Addressing the protesting workers of at the call of the Joint Action Committee outside the Geo offices in Islamabad, Naib Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Liaquat Baloch said the government always faced embarrassment when it placed restrictions on freedom of the media. 

He said that Jamaat-e-Islami had always raised its voice for the freedom the of media and would continue doing so. “Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is not only Editor-in-Chief of Geo and Jang Group but also the voice of free media and journalists,” he said. 

Baloch said all the journalists associations were raising their voice against the arrest of MSR and Jamaat-e-Islami will stand by the workers of the Jang-Geo Group for this just cause.

Also read: Politicians, rights bodies, media groups slam arrest of Jang-Geo Editor-in-Chief

'Jang-Geo group played vital role for Pakistan'

Senior JUI-F leader and Chairman Senate’s Committee on Cabinet Senator Talha Mehmood said the arrest of MSR was made to mute the independent voice of journalism. 

“The JUI-F, being a political party, stands with the workers of the Geo-Jang Group for its struggle and the release of the Editor-in-Chief of Geo-Jang Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman,” he said. 

He said the arrest of MSR was simply persecution. “It is beyond understanding how the government brought out a 34-year-old private business transaction to arrest MSR,” he said.

Former president Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob said the Jang Group had played a vital role in independence of Pakistan and for the country’s prosperity. 

He said the Jang-Geo Group also played a vital role in highlighting the brutalities of Indian forces against the people of occupied Kashmir and in their struggle for the freedom of Kashmiris from Indian occupation. 

“People of Kashmir were praying for the early release of MSR,” he said. He added that instead of awarding MSR for his services for Pakistan, he was put behind the bars in a fake and fabricated case.

Also read: Media monitoring body urges Pakistani TV channels to avoid politicising coronavirus

'Journalists have always struggled for free media'

Former Adviser to Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and senior journalist Murtaza Durrani said journalists had always struggled for the freedom of media and would continue doing it. 

Ex-president Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Afzal Butt said journalists were struggling for the freedom of media for the last 50 years and the arrest of MSR was the price for staying independent. 

He said MSR had refused to terminate journalists from his group and in reaction he was sent to jail. He said the advertisements of Geo, Jang and The News were stopped and the Group were made to suffer financially. 

Senior correspondent Jang Ayub Nasir said all the legal and constitutional experts had declared the arrest of MSR as a victimization and an effort to mute the voice of free media.

Senior correspondent of Geo News Nausheen Yousaf said journalists were holding countrywide protests against the arrest of MSR as they believe that this arrest was illegal and unconstitutional and only aimed to curb the free media. 

Originally published in The News