CEO of the Pakistani news channel, reserved presenter; leader arrested following remarks by opposition leader Shahbaz Gill

Pakistani news channel ARY reported on Wednesday that police arrested its chief and registered an FIR against the CEO and others in connection with controversial remarks made by opposition party leader Shahbaz Gill during a information program.

Karachi Police arrested ARY News Chief Ammad Yousuf at his residence and booked Producer Adeel Raja, Presenters Arshad Sharif and Khawar Ghuman except CEO Salman Iqbal as part of August 8 bulletin of the news channel which showed Gill, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, making “hateful remarks” against the Pakistani military, according to Dawn News citing the FIR.

Sharif and Ghuman participated in the program as analysts, FIR said.

The FIR said that by expressing such views in the programme, the PTI and ARY News were driving a wedge between sections of the armed forces that expressed party loyalty and those that did not.

Gill, in his telephone conversation with the channel, alleged that the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was trying to provoke the lower and middle levels of the military against the PTI.

He said family support from such a “base” for PTI party leader Imran Khan “fueled rage in government”.

The PTI chief also alleged that the “strategic media cell” of the ruling Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was spreading false information and fake news to create divisions between Khan and the armed forces.

“They sow hatred and rebellion in the armed forces,” added the FIR.

The FIR said the individuals who participated in the program “perpetrated the plot in collusion with the producer, director and CEO”.

Meanwhile, ARY News reported that Yousuf was arrested without a warrant at his residence here.

The report adds that the police team also took away the digital video recorder (DVR) from the CCTV cameras installed at Yousuf’s home.

The Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), condemning Yousuf’s arrest and delay in bringing him to court, said in a statement on Wednesday that the association’s chairman, Shahid Iqbal, had called on the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Umar Ata Bandial to take notice of the arrest and restrictions on ARY News.

The statement added that the “tactics” used against ARY News were the same as those used against another channel before and called for anything happening in the political realm to be confined to its domain.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Electronics and Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued a show cause notice to ARY News on Tuesday for spreading comments it called “very hateful and inflammatory” and incited ” the armed forces to revolt”.

“The statement made by the guest on ARY News is a violation of Section 19 of the Constitution as well as Pemra Laws. The broadcast of such content on your news channel shows either weak editorial control over the content, or the licensee is intentionally indulging in providing its platform to those individuals who intend to spread malice and hatred against state institutions for their interests,” the agency said. electronic media monitoring.

Gill was later arrested by Islamabad police and charged with sedition.

A District and Sessions Court in Islamabad on Wednesday granted police a two-day physical detention against Gill.

Police were also ordered to present Gill in court on August 12, while the investigator was told to have the PTI chief medically examined.

The court order said Gill’s remand was sought for the recovery of the ‘cell phone allegedly used in the commission of the offence’ for the purposes of voice correspondence through forensics, and to verify that ”the interview given by the accused from the head office of the media house in Karachi”.

Speaking to media outside the courtroom, Gill said there was nothing in his controversial remarks that caused embarrassment.

Arguing that he was a patriot, the PTI leader also claimed that he had not sought to incite anyone.

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