Hajj-bound TV anchor Imran Riaz arrested at Lahore Airport

Television anchor Imran Riaz was arrested at the Lahore’s Jinnah International Airport early Wednesday morning while he was about to board a plane for Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Imran Riaz’s lawyer Azhar Siddique Advocate said the TV anchor was arrested by unidentified people who were accompanied by policemen. A scuffle also took place at the airport, he added.

The lawyer said Imran Riaz has been granted bail in all the cases registered against him.

Subsequently, Azhar Siddique filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking details of the first information report (FIR) under which Imran Riaz was arrested.

The petition states that Imran Riaz was to depart for Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage from Lahore when “many civil-dresses officers from various authorities came and arrested him without providing any details” and “took him to an undisclosed location”.

The petition further says “No information has surfaced as to which FIR was used in order to apprehend the Applicant on the eve of 11.06.2024, therefore, it is the need of the day that the respondents be summoned by this court and they inform this court as to which FIRs have now been registered, of course, frivolously, against the applicant due to which he was illegally and arbitrarily arrested.”

Imran Riaz’s name was removed from the Exit Control List on June 11, the petition adds.

The plea prayed that the petition be accepted and the police, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), interior secretary and the Anti-Corruption Establishment be directed to place on record details of the FIR under which the TV anchor was arrested.

Separately, Imran Riaz’s brother filed another petition in the LHC demanding that the TV anchor be immediately released from “illegal and improper custody” and be produced in court. The plea named the Punjab inspector general, Lahore capital city police officer, Cantt superintendent of police, FIA director and cyber crime wing director as respondents in the case.

Earlier this year, Imran Riaz was arrested in a graft case about the contract of Dhrabi Lake in Chakwal and was later granted bail by a special court. However, he was rearrested in another case pertaining to violence outside PTI founder Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence. On March 10, an anti-terrorism court had granted him post-arrest bail.

PTI slams arrest

Meanwhile, the PTI termed Imran Riaz’s arrest “absolutely condemnable” and called for his release. “It once again represents the complete destruction of moral values of Pakistan in the last two years,” the party said in a post on X, adding “Have some sense, your actions hurt Pakistan only.”

 “Is going to Haj now considered a crime in Pakistan?” the PTI said in another post.