KARACHI: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Wednesday arrested journalist Muhammad Aslam Shah on charges of “defamation through social media”.

The agency registered an FIR against Shah on December 29, 2025, under Section 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person) and Section 24 (cyberstalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Shah has done extensive coverage of Karachi’s water issues.

In the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, Tabish Raza Husnain, the complainant, alleged that Shah was “doing defamation propaganda against me and my senior Col. Anjum in different Facebook WhatsApp groups and make false and baseless allegations on me”.

He also alleged that Shah used “abusive language which caused me significant distress and damage to my reputation”.

In the FIR, the NCCIA said that the complainant had submitted screenshots of the alleged content.

It further noted that during the inquiry, the agency issued multiple notices to the accused, “directing him to appear before it to record his statement and clarify his position”.

In August 2025, the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting showed its concern over registration of cases against journalists under the controversial Peca and called for urgent action to address growing concerns of media persons regarding FIRs and arrests of journalists.

Last year, Farhan Mallick, the founder of the media agency Raftar and a former news director at Samaa TV, was arrested on March 20 in Karachi and booked under Peca as well as the Pakistan Penal Code. The following day, he was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) custody for four days.