Senior Pak journalist arrested on unspecified charges after controversial remarks against PM Khan

Islamabad, Feb 16 (PTI). Pakistani authorities arrested a senior journalist and government critic under unspecified charges on Wednesday, a week after he made controversial remarks on the prime minister in a television talk show.

Mohsin Baig was among the panellists on the TV One programme hosted by anchor Gharedah Farooqui about the decision by Prime Minister Imran Khan to award ‘best performance certificates’ to 10 ministers. Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed was adjudged the top performer. When asked why Saeed was declared top performer, Baig had jocularly cited the book of Reham Khan, former wife of Prime Minister Khan, in which she purportedly made sexually explicit remarks on the relationship between Murad Saeed and Prime Minister Khan.

Baig is the second person to be arrested by the law enforcement agencies in the past week over anti-government comments. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday conducted a raid at Baig’s residence in Islamabad to arrest him after registering a case at the complaint of Saeed, who accused the journalist for using foul words to defame him. However, the exact charges under the penal code are yet to be made public.

According to the FIA, the journalist resisted the arrest and fired at the officials along with his son, injuring at least one official. However, police were also called and he was finally arrested and shifted to Margalla Police Station for interrogation.  The police also registered a case under Anti-Terrorist Act, alleging that Baig used violent means to avoid arrest.

Baig’s son told Geo News that FIA officials in plainclothes came to the house earlier today and arrested his father. Initially, we thought that they (FIA personnel) were thieves and opened fire in the air but later they introduced themselves as law enforcers. We also asked them to show arrest warrants but they didn’t have any,” he said. Geo News reported that the FIA faced resistance during the raid and dragged the journalist to the van.

Baig’s family lodged a petition against his illegal detention and the Additional Sessions Judge Justice Zafar Iqbal after hearing the pleas appointed a bailiff to produce Baig in court. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the arrest and said that it showed that Imran Khan is afraid of criticism . He also demanded that the government should release journalist Mohsin Baig immediately.

It was the second arrest this week after the FIA on Monday had arrested a social media activist named Sabir Hashmi for “running trends against the prime minister” on social media. Prime Minister Khan, chairing a meeting of the ruling party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) on Monday had expressed displeasure over the indecent trend that consisted of personal attacks.