New Delhi: The Pakistan government’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the editor-in-chief of the Jang and Geo group, the country’s largest and one of the most renowned media outfits, on the charge of buying a piece of land 34 years ago from a government entity without following due procedure.
A news report in the Dawn said, “According to NAB, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had illegally leased the land to Rahman in 1986.”
Rahman has denied it, stating that it “was bought from a private party 34 years ago and all evidence of this was given to NAB”.
Rahman’s arrest in Lahore on March 12 has led to an uproar, with opposition party leaders and rights bodies calling it political harassment and an attack on media freedom.
Soon after Rahman’s arrest, Maryam Nawaz, daughter of Nawaz Sharif and the vice president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, told reporters in Islamabad that his arrest “shows how scared they [government] are of the media”.
“This crackdown on the media is not new, it’s an old [tactic]. Honest news anchors were targeted and sidelined and today you have arrested the head of a media house […] This might block the news but it will not block the truth,” she was quoted as saying in the Dawn.
Maryam was also arrested by the NAB in August last year and was released from jail last November. She has been barred from travelling out of the country and as a result, has not been able to travel to London to be with her ailing father.
The Dawn report also quoted former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemning the arrest and calling it a “black day for press freedom”.
On March 13, Abbasi, speaking at the lower house of parliament, reportedly asked, “Is NAB an institution for revenge that it will arrest anyone speaking against it?”
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“The ink had not even dried yet on the Islamabad high court’s judgement which details the conditions of arrest, and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman has been arrested,” Abbasi was quoted as saying on the floor of the house in a Geo News report.
The former prime minister was referring to last week’s verdict by a two-judge bench of the high court led by Chief Justice Athar Minallah. The verdict reportedly said, “If an accused is cooperating in the inquiry or investigation and appropriate measures have been taken to ensure his attendance, then in such an eventuality restriction on constitutional rights would be an abuse of the executive power.”
Islamabad high court. Photo: IHC website
A statement issued by New York-based Human Rights Watch on March 13 said, “The space for dissent in Pakistan is shrinking fast, and anyone who criticises government actions can become a target.” Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director said, “Detaining Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman is just the latest case of harassment against Pakistan’s beleaguered media.”
A statement issued by Jang Group on March 12 also pointed at the government’s action as an attempt to curb press freedom. “During the past 18 months, NAB has sent our reporters, producers, and editors […] over a dozen notices threatening to shut down our channels […] due to our reporting, and programmes about the anti-corruption watchdog,” it said.
The Dawn report also quoted the statement as saying, “NAB has also, through several means, tried to persuade us to go slow, to stop stories and to do others in its favour at the expense of the full truth.”
On March 12, Rahman was asked to appear before NAB for the second time to reply to questions on the land purchase. NAB, through a notice issued to Rahman on February 28, asked him to appear before it’s officials on March 5 to reply to their queries over the purchase of the land in Johar Town Phase 2 of Lahore.
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Speaking to media persons outside the office of the national anti-corruption watchdog on March 5, Rahman had said that a similar allegation was brought against him before too but was “it had proven to be false.”
Rahman was, however, called to reappear on March 12 and was arrested reportedly for failing to satisfy the officials’ queries.
News reports said he would be produced before the accountability court later on March 13 for his physical remand.