Iqrar ul Hassan handed to NCCIA on remand after night raid

Television anchor and Pakistan Awam Raj Tehreek chief Iqrar ul Hassan was produced before a court in Karachi and handed over to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on four-day remand, a day after his family said he had been taken from his Lahore home and his whereabouts were unknown.

He was presented before the Judicial Magistrate Karachi East-I, ARY News reported. The NCCIA has registered Case No. 101/2026 against him under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). After the hearing, an NCCIA team took him back into custody and moved him to the agency’s cell.

According to ARY News, Hassan was arrested from the Defence Housing Authority in Lahore and brought to Karachi at around 1am.

The night raid

His wife, Farah Iqrar, said a group of people broke the front door of their DHA residence and entered at around 3am on Monday, Geo News and Dawn reported.

She said she was asleep when the doorbell rang loudly, and woke up to find a large number of people already inside the house.

“I asked, ‘Who are you people?’” she said, alleging that she was pushed and hurt her hand. She said two women were with the group and that two men grabbed her husband when he came out of his room.

“They took Iqrar’s phones, his laptop, the entire DVR, and dismantled and took away the CCTV footage,” she said, adding that her own two phones were snatched when she tried to call relatives. “I saw ‘NCCIA’ written on the arms of the women. Other than that, I know nothing.”

Denials, then a court appearance

On Monday, the authorities denied holding him:

• NCCIA: his lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, said the agency “completely denied” having him in custody when the matter was raised before a judicial magistrate. “The court clearly and explicitly asked them about the custody and production of Iqrar-ul-Hassan Syed,” he said
• Punjab government: Information Minister Azma Bokhari said Punjab Police had not arrested him. “The matter is being investigated, and as soon as any verified information about him is received, his family will be informed,” she said

Ashfaq said the anchor had not made any anti-state remarks and that the family would move the Lahore High Court for his safe recovery, Dawn reported. Dawn noted that Hassan had been critical of government policies on social media.

His other wife, Quratulain, appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to act. “We have no idea where he is right now, what evidence is being fabricated against him, when he will be released, and under what circumstances he has been picked up,” she said.

Why it matters

Hassan is one of the country’s best-known television faces, and the way he was taken, with denials of custody before he appeared in a court in another province, will add to concerns among journalists about the use of PECA. Read our report on the NCCIA’s raid on a loan recovery call centre in Rawalpindi.

This article draws on reporting by ARY News, Geo News and Dawn.