ISLAMABAD – An Islamabad-based journalist filed a petition in Islamabad High Court alleging that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had harassed him over the phone.
Taha Siddiqui, the Bureau Chief of ‘World Is One News’ alleged that a man named Noman Bodla, who identified himself as a member of the Counter Terrorism Department of the FIA, had called him and attempted to pressure him into appearing for an ‘interrogation’ at the FIA headquarters.
According to the petition, Siddiqui was hesitant to appear at the FIA headquarters and reportedly told Bodla that he was free to ask him any questions regarding his work over the phone. Taha also insisted that his “professional work was in the public domain and could be accessed without his presence or interrogation.”
The journalist in his petition feared that he avoided visitng FIA headquarters for fears that he would be picked up after appearance.
The petitioner further maintained that Bodla “insisted that it would be ‘better’ for him to appear before Respondent No.3 (Noman Bodla) for review of his work and in a threatening voice and tone, questioned the petitioner as to whether he would appear or not in a threatening and menacing manner.”
The Federal Investigation Agency has intensified operation against social media users allegedly spreading hate against armed forces. Earlier, Faisal Ranjha, a member of PML-N social media team was also arrested.
The coalesced opposition also slammed the government for abusing the cyber crime law and demanded early release of detained members.
