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It was 10th August 2022, when ARY’s Senior Executive Vice President Ammad Yousaf was arrested from his residence located in DHA Karachi.
Now the concern is who is he and why he was arrested without a warrant.
Ammad Yousaf
Ammad Yousaf is head of the news department at ARY News channel. In short, he is the second most important person on ARY TV after its owner, Salman Iqbal.
He was initially associated with the ARY cooking channel named Zauq TV. Ammad Yousaf is the personal manager of Salman Iqbal and a determined PTI worker as well.
According to senior anchor Gharida Farooqui, Ammad Yusuf is not a journalist, with zero journalistic background; but a PTI worker, working in ARY in disguise as a media organization. “Do not make it a ‘media freedom’ issue when it is not. Clear violations of Constitution & law committed by him. Law must take its course,” she claimed in a tweet.
Arrest
Ammad Yousaf was arrested without a warrant from his residence located in the DHA of Karachi. According to details, police officers along with plain-clothed persons forcibly entered his house along with a raiding team which diverted the CCTV cameras of Yousaf’s house and jumped into the house from the top of the main entrance.
The raiding team during the raid took away the licensed weapons and the DVR of the CCTV cameras installed in the house.
Yousuf was arrested after ARY News was served a show-cause notice by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Monday. President and CEO of ARY Digital Network Salman Iqbal, Anchor persons, Arshad Sharif, and Khawar Ghuman were also booked under sedition charges.
Channel off air
ARY was taken off air on Monday night after Dr Shahbaz Gill, a close aide to ex-premier Imran Khan, made comments during a news bulletin in which he advised military personnel not to follow orders of their top officials if they were “against the sentiments of the masses.”
FIR
The FIR was filed under sections 120, 124A, 131, and 153A in which sedition and charges of plotting alleged conspiracy have been included.
Court appearance
He was produced before Malir Court after the arrest and was brought in an armoured vehicle and was not allowed to meet his lawyers and family members.
Yousaf while talking to the media after the decision said he was thankful to everyone who has supported ARY NEWS during the testing time.
Court order
A Karachi court on Thursday ordered the release of Ammad Yousaf, the news director at ARY News, the channel confirmed, while the Sindh High Court (SHC) directed Pakistan’s media regulator and cable operators to restore the channel’s transmission immediately.
Condemnation
The arrest of Ammad Yousaf has been strongly condemned by journalistic organizations and press clubs across the country. President and CEO of ARY Digital Network Salman Iqbal, Anchor persons, Arshad Sharif, and Khawar Ghuman were also booked under sedition charges.
