JournalismPakistan.com
October 07, 2017

ISLAMABAD – Islamabad Police have registered a FIR against anchor Arshad Sharif following his explosive revelation about an Intelligence Bureau (IB) document that said 37 parliamentarians had links with militant organizations.

The move came as a surprise as the matter was still being heard by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the Islamabad High Court.

The IB wrote to the Islamabad Police seeking registration of FIR against Sharif who hosts the program Power Play on ARY News.

In its complaint filed with PEMRA, the IB claims the document displayed in Sharif’s show was a fake. The program aired on September 25 and 27.

In his reply submitted to the PEMRA Council of Complaints by his lawyers on his behalf, Sharif said the document and the list shown in his program were obtained from a credible journalistic source.

It said that “the information disclosed and journalistic analysis made by the Host in the programme was his professional responsibility, that information regarding the illegal conduct of the Intelligence Bureau should be available in the public domain.”

The reply said Director General Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan “was the originator and architect of the document. Mr. Sultan wrote this letter on the directions of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif following a series of meetings.

“Mr. Aftab Sultan tried to use institutional resources for the benefit of the Sharif family…..Sharif was worried about formation of a forward block in PML-N which was ready to ditch the ruling party.”

Meanwhile, the journalist unions across the country announced they would not take this action lying down. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) was to meet later in the day to chart its course of action.