ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against journalist Waheed Murad under a controversial cybercrime law on Wednesday, accusing him of sharing “misleading” information on social media causing “hatred” against government functionaries.
Murad was taken away from his residence in Islamabad by masked men early Wednesday morning, his family said, provoking an outcry from prominent members of the media community who called for his immediate recovery.
Murad works with Urdu News, a digital media outlet catering to Urdu-speaking audiences in Pakistan and abroad. He was produced before Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah in the District and Sessions Court of Islamabad on Wednesday afternoon. The judge granted the FIA a two-day physical remand of the journalist.
“Accused Muhammad Waheed s/o Bara Khan is found sharing highly intimidating content/post on social media/Facebook and X Corp. on Wednesday, 12-03-2025 at 07:33 p.m. and 10:21 pm, in which the alleged profile has knowingly disseminated/propagated, fake, false, misleading and misinterpreted information leading to hatred against the government functionaries by stating therein that,” a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News said.
The complaint said that a case against the journalist has been registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) under sections 9, 10, 20 and 26-A.
The issue came to the fore when Murad’s wife, journalist Shinza Nawaz, wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday that masked men had taken Murad forcibly away.
“My mother was also at home,” she wrote. “They misbehaved with her as well — she was pushed. My mother is a heart patient. They took my mother’s phone, both of Waheed’s phones, and some documents.”
In a video clip circulated after the incident, Murad’s mother-in-law, Abida Nawaz, said the masked men who arrived at their residence identified themselves as police.
“There were three vehicles and around 15 to 20 people,” she continued. “They did not show any warrant or documents. They broke down the doors and dragged Waheed away.”
Murad’s disappearance comes just days after the disappearance of the brothers of exiled Pakistani journalist Ahmad Noorani.
On March 18, around midnight, approximately two dozen individuals identifying themselves as police forcibly entered Noorani’s family home in Islamabad, assaulted his two brothers and took them to an undisclosed location.
Two days later, on March 20, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested journalist Farhan Mallick in Karachi. Mallick, founder of the digital media platform Raftar, was detained on allegations of airing “anti-state” content on his YouTube channel.
International rights organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), have expressed increasing concern over the deteriorating climate for press freedom in Pakistan.
CPJ and other advocacy groups have repeatedly urged the government to address such incidents and to ensure the safety of journalists operating in the country.
Such incidents targeting journalists are not new in Pakistan and are widely viewed as a tool to stifle dissent and silence independent reporting.
Rights defenders say the pattern reflects a shrinking space for democratic discourse in Pakistan, where journalists critical of state policies or security agencies are frequently subjected to intimidation tactics.
