World News | Veteran Pakistani journalist arrested for defaming state institution

Lahore, February 2 (PTI) — Veteran Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan was arrested for the second time by authorities on Thursday for making remarks defaming the country’s state institutions, especially the powerful military. arrest.

BOL news anchor and staunch supporter of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan is heading to the UAE, reportedly to evade action by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government when the FIA ​​detained arrested him at Lahore airport and transferred him to the provincial headquarters for interrogation.

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He was accused of hate speech, defamation of state institutions, especially the military, statements inciting violence, creating a rift between the public and state institutions, inciting mutiny and public mischief.

According to the FIR, Khan took aim at the military leader’s pledge to remain neutral and made a video that went viral on social media.

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He also criticized the role of the Pakistan Army leadership in politics.

This is not the first time the reporter has been arrested. He was arrested by the FIA ​​a few months ago on similar charges and subsequently released on bail from the Lahore High Court.

Khan has been critical of former army chief General Kamal Javed Bajwa and those in the current army who support the federal coalition government.

“Imran Riaz Khan has been detained by the FIA. We can safely say that Pakistan is a fascist state with no rule of law and human rights are totally non-existent,” said Imran Khan’s Pakistan Justice Movement Party (PTI). said in a statement.

Since the PML-N-led coalition government took over in April 2022, cases have been registered against several journalists from anti-government and anti-military establishments, mainly for hate speech.

Arshad Sharif, a popular TV anchor who criticized General Bajwa and other senior ISI officials, was shot dead in Kenya after he was registered by Pakistani security services for sedition and anti-state rhetoric. mechanism. Sharif’s mother blamed Bajwa and other senior military officers for his assassination. PTI MZ AKJ

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)