Pak probe agency grills ex-PM Imran Khan over controversial social media posts

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was grilled on Saturday by a probe team over his controversial social media post allegedly targeting the heads of key state institutions.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against Khan on Friday for allegedly inciting rebellion against the government and state institutions through posts made on social media platform X.

The FIA’s Cybercrime Wing launched an inquiry and its probe tem led by Deputy Director Ayaz Khan questioned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder for about 45 minutes at Adiala Jail. The team included investigators and technical experts who asked Khan about the nature of the post and who was handling his social media account.

The FIA team is expected to visit again to continue the probe and further determine who is responsible for managing Khan’s social media accounts and issuing directives for such posts.

Khan, 71, had previously insisted that he would only cooperate with the investigation in the presence of his legal team and had refused to meet the FIA probe team.

Information Minister Atta Tarar had said over the new case against Khan that the FIA is investigating the misuse of social media by the PTI founder to "create anarchy and undermine national security".

During the session of the National Assembly earlier in the day, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Khan insulted the institutions by accusing the Chief Justice in his X post and also accusing the Army chief of being involved in politics.

Bhutto said if this statement was not issued by Khan himself, then it should be revealed who used his X account.