Television anchor and Pakistan Awam Raj Tehreek chief Iqrar-ul-Hassan was reportedly taken into custody from his home in Lahore’s DHA neighbourhood in the early hours of Monday, in what his family described as a late-night raid by officials of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).
According to his wife, Farah Iqrar, the family was asleep when loud shouting began outside the house at around 3am, with the visitors demanding that Iqrar come out. She said the personnel scaled the boundary wall and forced open the lower entrance door before coming upstairs, where two men restrained her husband and took him away.
Farah Iqrar said the raiding party also seized mobile phones and a laptop from the house, removed the CCTV cameras and the recording device, and snatched her phone when she attempted to film the episode. She said she was pushed during the commotion.
The NCCIA has not formally confirmed the detention, and the reasons for it remain unclear. Family members said they contacted the agency’s local station but received no information, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Television host Waseem Badami also said there was no verified information about his location.
In a separate video message, Iqrar-ul-Hassan’s first wife, Qurat-ul-Ain Iqrar, appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to help secure his recovery, saying the family did not know why he had been taken.
Iqrar-ul-Hassan, 42, hosted the investigative programme Sar-e-Aam on ARY News for years before resigning in April 2026 after 21 years with the channel to devote himself to politics. He had announced the formation of the Pakistan Awam Raj Tehreek at the Lahore Press Club in January 2026, pledging that the party would have no hereditary leadership and that he would not accept any government office himself.
