As Wednesday marked the 72nd day since the closure of 24NewsHD TV channel’s transmission, the protesting journalists in Islamabad were stopped from marching towards the Parliament House.

However, the participants continued raising their voice for media freedom and against the curbs imposed on freedom of expression in the country at D-Chowk.

Nasim Zehra and Hamid Mir were among the prominent names at the protest which started from outside the National Press Club. Representatives of different representative bodies including Afzal Butt and Nasir Zaidi of PUFJ, Shakil Anjum and Amir Sajjad Syed were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Hamid Mir said the government operatives questioning where was the ban should able to see that with the TV channel not on air for the last 72 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nd0kK_1eg

He warned that the next protest won’t stop at D-Chowk. “Send us prison or end censorship,” Mir demanded.

Munizae Jahangir – daughter of renowned human rights activist late Asma Jahangir – said journalists were being dragged in courts. “Today, every segment [of society] in Pakistan is demanding its rights. We have identified the unidentified persons,” she remarked. 

This protest in the federal capital was part of a series of events held across the country against censorship and victimisation of those media houses which stand for media freedom and the right to share information. People described 24NewsHD as the voice of oppressed and said the government move was unacceptable.

As the political leaders and people have also joined the call to restore 24NewsHD, PFUJ President GM Jamali said 24NewsHD was taken off air for showing things which Prime Minister Imran Khan used to do in the past.

The local press club in Badin and the Hyderabad Union of Journalists also organised separate protests where the people called for restoring 24NewsHD’s transmission at the earliest.

In Kasur, former president of district bar association Ashraf Ansari and Anjuman-e-Tajran president Sheikh Sajjad Ahmed noted that the TV channel reflected represented the poor. 

Similar protests were held in Faisalabad, Quetta, Sukkur and Dadu where the protesters said the government wanted to render hundreds of journalists jobless.