LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday suspended notices issued by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to Lahore Press Club (LPC) President Arshad Ansari and five other journalists.

Chief Justice Aalia Neelum heard the petition filed by the journalists challenging the notices.

During the proceedings, the chief justice questioned whether similar action had been taken against YouTubers who were maligning different institutions on a daily basis.

The lawyers, appearing on behalf of the journalists, asked the court to declare the impugned notices unlawful and strike them down.

Deputy Attorney General Rafaqat Dogar represented the federal government.

The chief justice suspended the operation of the impugned notices and ordered the NCCIA investigating officer to produce the complete record on Oct 14.

LPC President Ansari and other petitioners, including Ahmad Faraz, Mujahid Sheikh, Waseem Sabir and Yasir Shamoon, were present in the court.

The petitioners contended that the NCCIA officials had raided their homes shortly after the notices were issued. They argued that the agency’s actions were unlawful and motivated by malice.

The petitioners claimed that they had criticised the establishment of the Crime Control Department (CCD) and the out-of-turn appointment of a police officer as the DIG. They alleged that at first, a smear campaign against them was started on social media and later the NCCIA had served them with notices for appearance.

The NCCIA had served notices on them for allegedly running a malicious campaign on social media against the complainant, former police officer and YouTuber Azizullah Khan, and some police officers.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2025