Pakistan’s investigative journalist detained in Gen Bajwa’s tax record leaks case

LAHORE – Federal Investigators have detained a journalist from provincial capital Lahore for leaking tax records of former Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family members.

Reports in local media claimed that investigative journalist Shahid Aslam, who worked for top media outlets including BBC, was arrested for allegedly providing tax record data to Ahman Norani, who shared the tax records and assets details in his exclusive story.

The journalists’ community, including the correspondent behind the exposé Noorani himself, denounced the arrest of Shahid Aslam by FIA and mentioned that the latter never shared any details about the tax returns of the former top general.

The recent development comes as FIA already held three officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the tax record breach case.

Earlier, the country’s Finance chief Ishaq Dar directed to start probe after records from FBR were leaked, prompting a strong response from Pakistan Army.