Islamabad, Jan 14 (PTI) A Pakistani court on Saturday approved a two-day physical remand of a senior journalist who was arrested earlier in the day for his alleged involvement in leaking personal tax data of former army chief General (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Shahid Aslam of Bol News channel was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from Lahore on Saturday and then taken to Islamabad where he was produced before a court.
After hearing the arguments by the prosecution and defense lawyers, Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir of a district and sessions court sent Aslam to the custody of the FIA for two days.
Aslam has denied all the charges against him, saying there was no evidence suggesting that he had done anything wrong.
The journalist said he had been covering the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) for a long time as a professional journalist.
In a video of him being escorted out of the court, Aslam can be heard saying: “They are asking me for passwords. I won’t give the passwords.” Earlier, the prosecutor told the court that the journalist was not providing the password of his laptop.
The case against the journalist was based on a report by investigative news website FactFocus which in November last year published a write-up, accusing the then-army chief and his family of amassing assets worth Rs 12.7 billion over the past six years.
In November, Finance minister Ishaq Dar, in reaction to the report set up a probe, which named two officials for the “illegal and unwarranted” leakage of tax information Gen (retd) Bajwa’s family.
“This is clearly a violation of the complete confidentiality of tax information that the law provides,” a statement from the Finance Division had said.
The FBR suspended two officers – Zahoor Ahmed and Atif Nawaz Warraich – in December for four months for their alleged involvement in the data leakage. They are now facing charges.
Bajwa, 61, retired on November 29 after getting a three-year extension in 2019 by ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, who turned out to be the biggest critic of the Pakistan Army.
Since Pakistan was created 75 years ago, the Army has seized power three times and directly ruled the country for almost four decades.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Press Club condemned the arrest and urged the government to release Aslam immediately.
“This is a sensitive profession in which every journalist should work according to the ethics of journalism,” it said. PTI SH MRJ MRJ MRJ
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.