On Monday, a judicial magistrate in Islamabad remanded journalist Bilal Ghauri into the custody of National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency for three days in a false information case.
The case was registered against Ghauri on September 6, 2026 on behalf of NCCIA Technical Assistant Muhammad Umair Warsi under Section 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person) and 26-A (dissemination of false and fake information) under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
The FIR states that Ghauri had uploaded and disseminated content regarding the appointment of the National Counter Terrorism Authority on September 5.
It was reported that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (C) Major General Faisal Naseer has been transferred and appointed as national coordinator of the NACTA.
The DG (C) post is often mistakenly described as heading ISI’s counter-intelligence wing. The office actually heads the agency’s Internal Wing, which deals with domestic security and other matters and, because of the nature of the assignment, frequently engages with the country’s principal power centres.
Within the ISI, DG (C) is considered virtually the second most important position after that of the ISI director general.
Ghauri’s lawyer, Advocate Imran Shafiq had, however, argued that his client had uploaded a vlog on September 5, and he was arrested the same night, adding that not a single statement mentioned in the entire vlog could be termed false or fabricated.
The counsel questioned the prosecution’s allegation of false information and asked the NCCIA to identify exactly which statement in the vlog was false.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court rejected the NCCIA’s request for 10-day physical remand and instead handed Ghauri over to the agency on three-day remand for further investigation.
