Bilal Ghori was presented before Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman, where the NCCIA said it needed to recover his YouTube and X accounts.

In court, lawyer Hanzala Habib said Bilal Ghori had uploaded a vlog on September 5 but was arrested without being issued any notice. Bilal Ghori’s lawyer Imran Shafiq argued that there was not a single word in the vlog that was false and asked the NCCIA to identify where the alleged false information was.

He said that if the statement that “his further promotion does not appear possible” was considered objectionable, then the question was what part of it was false.

The court also questioned Bilal Ghori about his statements. The judicial magistrate asked whether such words were appropriate. Bilal Ghori replied that he was not speaking against Faisal Naseer, but was discussing NACTA.

The judge then asked what Bilal Ghori had said at the end of the statement. He replied that he had said, “Whatever the Field Marshal says, they will do the same.”

The judge asked whether he would say the same about him, that “whatever the sessions judge says, they will do.” Bilal Ghori replied that the judiciary is independent, while there is a chain of command in that case.

Report of Missing Before Arrest

Before his arrest, Bilal Ghori’s wife Humaira Kanwal had said in a post on X on Sunday morning that her husband had been missing since around 2am the previous night. She appealed to people to take immediate action to trace him and ensure his safe return.

According to her, Bilal Ghori was at the ground floor of his home in Sector E-11, Islamabad, where he was writing his weekly column and recording a vlog. She became concerned when he did not come upstairs late at night. When she went downstairs, she found that he was no longer at home.

She also said that Bilal Ghori had been unwell for the previous few days, making his sudden disappearance particularly concerning.

His brother Abdul Wasi said the family reported his disappearance to police helpline 15 and submitted a written application at Shalimar Police Station on Sunday morning. He alleged that police did not register an FIR or begin an investigation.

The family also provided CCTV footage showing a police van and two other vehicles stopping some distance from their house during the night between Saturday and Sunday. The footage allegedly shows some plain-clothes personnel approaching the house and later taking a man into a police van.

The family claimed that the person seen in the footage was Bilal Ghori.

However, Shalimar Police Station Sub-Inspector Nauman Shafiq said police had received an application regarding Bilal Ghori’s disappearance and had started an initial investigation.

Case Registered Against Bilal Ghori

Later on Sunday night, the NCCIA confirmed that Bilal Ghori had been arrested after a case was registered against him under the PECA Amendment Act. The NCCIA registered the case against him on September 6 under Sections 20 and 26-A of the PECA Amendment Act.

According to the FIR, Bilal Ghori uploaded content on his social media accounts and YouTube channel on September 5 regarding the appointment of the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). The FIR alleged that he created a “false narrative” and attempted to mislead the public.

The FIR further stated that during the investigation, it was found that the accused had promoted false information contrary to the facts and without verification, allegedly creating unrest among the public and attempting to undermine trust in state institutions.

The federal government has approved the appointment of Major General Faisal Naseer as NACTA’s National Coordinator. He is the first military officer to head the institution, which was established under the Ministry of Interior in 2008.

Major General Faisal Naseer previously served as head of the Internal Wing of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), known as the Directorate General Counter-Intelligence (DGCI).