KARACHI: Journalist and YouTuber Farhan Mallick was arrested by the FIA on Thursday, supposedly for airing content critical of the security establishment.

Mr Mallick, who is the founder of the Raftar media agency and a former news director at SAMAA TV, was taken into custody at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre when he appeared there in connection with an inquiry against him.

Additional Director Shah­zad Haider told Dawn that an inquiry was initiated against the journalist around three months ago.

When asked about the cha­rges against him, Mr Haider simply said that he had run “several programmes against the security establishment”.

After the completion of the inquiry, the journalist was formally arrested on Thursday, he said.

In a post on social media, Raftar claimed FIA officials visited their offices on Wednesday evening without prior notice, where they “harrassed our team, provided no explanation for their visit and verbally summoned Mr Mallick to their office for a hearing on Thursday at 1pm”.

“In compliance, Mr Mallick appe­ared at the designated office at the required time. However, after making him wait for hours without cause, the authorities arrested him at 6pm,” the post said.

According to Dawn.com, Mr Mallick’s wife said they had not been given a written charge sheet, or any reason for his arrest.

“We have not received a first information report (FIR), nor have we been informed about the charges,” she said over the phone. “We were thinking it was just a meeting, there was no indication he was under investigation,” she maintained.

In a statement, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) dem­anded Mr Mallick’s immediate release and a transparent investigation into the matter.

“The government must check the overreach of agencies such as the FIA and uphold the right to freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution,” it said.

Karachi Press Club Presi­de­­nt Fazil Jamili also conde­m­ned Mr Mallick’s detention un­der the Peca law and dem­anded his immediate release.

“His arrest reinforces our apprehensions that this draconian law will be used to silence the journalists and stifle journalism in the country,” he said in a post on X.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2025