Journalist Bilal Ghauri arrested at Karachi airport

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 8 February 2026 |  JP Staff Report

Journalist Bilal Ghauri was detained by immigration at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport after his name reportedly appeared on the Exit Control List, preventing him from travelling to Dhaka to cover Bangladesh's Feb 12, 2026, elections.

Summary

KARACHI — Veteran Pakistani journalist and vlogger Bilal Ghauri was arrested by immigration authorities at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Saturday evening after his name reportedly appeared on the Exit Control List, preventing him from traveling to Dhaka to cover Bangladesh’s February 12, 2026, parliamentary elections. The polls are the first since the 2024 ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Images circulating among journalists showed Ghauri seated beside his luggage in what appeared to be handcuffs, triggering concern and criticism from fellow media professionals across political lines. Several journalists, including Asad Ali Toor and Azaz Syed, publicly questioned the action and sought clarification from authorities. As of publication, officials have not issued a statement explaining the reasons for placing Ghauri on the Exit Control List or detailing the grounds for his arrest.

Travel restrictions and prior legal scrutiny

The development follows a pattern of prior legal scrutiny of journalists engaged in political commentary. In November 2025, journalist and YouTuber Sohrab Barkat was detained by the Federal Investigation Agency at Islamabad International Airport while attempting to travel abroad to attend a conference. His detention occurred despite an earlier Islamabad High Court order directing authorities to remove his name from the Provisional National Identification List as of October 31, 2025. He remains in custody, according to publicly reported accounts.

Ghauri himself has previously faced legal proceedings. In June 2021, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad issued a summons directing him to appear for questioning on June 25 regarding alleged defamation through social media via YouTube. According to a copy of the summons reviewed by the Committee to Protect Journalists at the time and confirmed by Ghauri in a phone interview with the organization, the notice was issued in response to a complaint by Syed Abbas Mohiuddin, a former member of the Provincial Assembly from Attock District. The summons did not specify the alleged defamatory content.

Court intervention and suspension of summons

Ghauri, who publishes political commentary on his YouTube channel and previously worked as a contributor to The Daily Jang, told the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2021 that he believed the complaint related to a video series aired between 2019 and 2020 about Pakistan’s army chiefs.

Subsequently, the Islamabad High Court suspended the call-up notice issued to him and summoned the director of the FIA cybercrime wing to appear in person at the next hearing. During proceedings before then Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Ghauri’s legal counsel argued that the agency had misused its authority by issuing the summons without providing specific reasons. The court observed that fundamental rights must be safeguarded and expressed concern over what it described as repeated exercises that risked violating earlier court directions.

🚨🚨#BREAKING: Shocking and deplorable/condemnable picture of journalist Bilal Ghauri at the #Karachi airport after he was barred from flying to Bangladesh for election coverage, seen chained after detained by the @FIA_Agency in a room at the airport.#JournalismIsNotACrime pic.twitter.com/O6Jj3u4rPY

— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) February 7, 2026

WHY THIS MATTERS: The arrest of a journalist at an international airport over travel restrictions raises serious operational concerns for Pakistani newsrooms, even though many local media organizations rarely assign reporters to cover international political events firsthand. The case highlights the importance of legal preparedness, documentation of official actions, and contingency planning when deploying journalists abroad, particularly for politically sensitive regional coverage.

ATTRIBUTION: Based on statements by fellow journalists, reporting by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and prior reporting by JournalismPakistan on Islamabad High Court proceedings.