Court approves four-day physical remand of Orya Maqbool Jan

A local court in Lahore while summoning an investigation report from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued a four-day physical remand order for analyst Orya Maqbool Jan.

The hearing was heard by Judicial Magistrate Imran Abid, in which the FIA had pleaded for a fourteen-day remand, citing that Jan was not cooperating with the investigation.

He claimed that they had incriminating evidence against the suspect and the case was also registered in accordance with the law.

Counsel for Jan pleaded that the allegations leveled against his client were false and baseless. He further contended that Jan did not use any derogatory remark against any institution. He further submitted that FIA did not have any evidence and it was trying to manufacture it under duress.

On this occasion, Orya Maqbool Jan appeared by himself on the rostrum, saying he had provided the FIA with all his passwords. He questioned why he had been put on remand; had he committed some heinous crime such as theft, because surely remands are given in such cases. He also mentioned that he had three sons living abroad, and despite all this harassment, he was still living in Pakistan.

Earlier today, renowned political commentator Orya Maqbool Jan was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency from his residence in Phase Six of Defence Housing Authority, Lahore.

Sources further said that the analyst was arrested by the FIA’s Cyber Crime Wing for spreading religious hatred.

Meanwhile, a case has been lodged under the Cyber Terrorism Act for alleged statements against institutions.

It should be noted that Jan is an active user of social media platforms for contemporary political commentary on current affairs; he has about 1.3 million and 1.05 million followers on his X account and YouTube channel, respectively.