Pak court orders release of TV anchor after investigators failed to prove allegations

A Pakistani court on Friday ordered the release of TV anchor Imran Riaz Khan in a case of defaming state institutions, including the Pakistan Army, after the investigators failed to establish the allegations against him. BOL News anchor Imran Riaz Khan was leaving the country for UAE on Thursday apparently to escape action against him by the PML-N led government when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained him at the Lahore airport and later shifted him to its provincial headquarters for interrogation.

The FIA produced him before the court of district judge Ghulam Murtaza Virk for physical remand. The anchor's counsel Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq told the court that FIA registered the case without a complaint from the supposedly aggrieved person. "FIA accused the TV journalist of inciting the people against former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. Bajwa filed no complaint with FIA against the journalist," he argued.

After hearing the arguments, the judge discharged the anchor in the case and directed the FIA to release him.

The FIA had booked Khan under different sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes 2016 and the Pakistan Penal Code for hate speech, defaming state institutions especially the Army, violence-inducing statement, creating a rift between the general public and the state institutions, incitement to mutiny, and public mischief.

The anchor is a staunch supporter of ousted prime minister Imran Khan and critical of Gen Bajwa and those in the incumbent army who are supporting the federal coalition government. Since the PML-N led coalition government took over in April 2022, cases against a number of anti-government and anti-military establishment journalists has been registered primarily for hate speech. Known TV anchor Arshad Sharif, who was critical of Gen Bajwa and some other senior ISI officers, was shot dead in Kenya where he was hiding for his life. Sharif's mother blamed Bajwa and other senior officers for his assassination.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)