Category News

Islamabad, Pakistan – Rozi Khan, a 29-year-old bird seller from Karachi, was on a business trip to Islamabad in April when he discovered he could not access his bank account.

After completing a sale with a customer, he tried to withdraw money from an ATM, only to be met with the message: “Invalid bank account”. Alarmed, Khan took the next available flight back home and rushed to speak to his bank manager.

He was shocked to discover that the account, which he had been using for his bird-selling business for 10 years, had been shut down on April 10 on the orders of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), without any explanation.

Khan managed to speak to an FIA official on the phone after being given a number to call by his bank manager. After asking about Khan’s recent business transactions, the official posed a puzzling question: What was his relationship with Asad Ali Toor, a journalist and avid collector of rare parrots?

“I did not understand the question at first. I sell birds to people from every walk of life – lawyers, military officers, anyone,” Khan told Al Jazeera. “I sold parrots to Asad as well. Why would they suspend my account for dealing with a customer who just happens to be a journalist?”

A ripple effect across cities

In Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Sargodha and other cities, the same question has been echoing in the minds of other people, particularly bird sellers, who have conducted business with Toor and then found themselves locked out of their bank accounts.

Nadeem Nasir, a 60-year-old businessman in Lahore who has sold birds in the past, including to Toor, discovered his account had been closed on April 10 when a cheque he wrote to an associate bounced.

“I have known Asad for the last five years and have developed good relations with him. But the last time he purchased parrots from me was in 2023 and early 2024. Since then, there has been no business transaction between us,” Nasir told Al Jazeera.

Like Khan, Nasir said he received no notification that his account had been closed from either the FIA or the bank. When he finally spoke to someone at the FIA, he, too, was questioned about his connection to Toor.

“It was only after I managed to get in touch with some FIA officials through my contacts that they asked me about my relationship with Toor. That’s when I realised what had happened,” he said.

Toor, 40, is an Islamabad-based independent journalist and vlogger, who has earned a reputation for his outspoken opinions. He runs a popular YouTube channel and is well known for his critical analysis of the government, judiciary and Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, which has ruled the country directly for more than three decades and continues to wield enormous influence.

He also collects birds.

A journalist with a passion for parrots

Among the many bank accounts blocked by the FIA were those of Toor himself as well as of his father, mother, brother and a cousin who helped him run his YouTube channel.

This wasn’t Toor’s first run-in with the authorities. He has been running his YouTube channel for the past five years, attracting 335,000 subscribers while more than 355,000 people follow him on X.

In 2021 while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was in power, Toor was attacked by unknown people at his home in Islamabad. He said he believed his assailants were members of the military intelligence service, which has been accused by rights groups of involvement in disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the past. At the time, the military’s media wing did not comment after questions about the allegation.

In February 2024, Toor was arrested on charges of orchestrating a “malicious campaign” against the state through social media. He was released after 18 days in custody.

Then last week, Toor’s YouTube channel was among 27 Pakistani channels that authorities sought to suspend for “anti-state” content. Although a magistrate initially approved the suspension, a sessions court reversed the order two days later.

Toor’s passion for rare parrots is well known. He owns several dozen birds and spends more than 50,000 rupees ($175) each month on their care, a hobby he funds through his online earnings.

“I only found out about the account suspension after my cousin told me his account had been frozen due to transactions with me,” Toor told Al Jazeera.

“As I looked into it, I discovered that my own account along with those of my family and even my bird sellers had been locked without any prior warning or notification from the bank or the FIA.”

Legal fight for access

For more than a month, Toor had no access to his funds and has been forced to rely on friends for financial support. Finally in May, the Islamabad High Court issued an order in response to a petition he had lodged, ordering that his bank account be restored.

When Judge Khadim Hussain Soomro asked the FIA to justify the freeze, the agency submitted a one-page reply stating it needed to investigate Toor’s income, allegedly earned through “anti-state, anti-government posts” on social media.

The statement further claimed that the agency was examining potential “traces of money laundering and terror funding” through “various bank channels”.

But the court ruled Toor had been denied due process, the action, therefore, was unlawful and ordered the FIA to restore the journalist’s account. The bank accounts of Toor’s family members, however, remain blocked.

Zainab Janjua, Toor’s lawyer, said it took her more than a week to get her client’s account unblocked after the ruling.

“The court order clearly stated that the accounts should be unblocked immediately, but the banks refused to comply until they had received written confirmation from the FIA,” she told Al Jazeera.

Eventually, Janjua’s colleague and Toor went to the bank and threatened contempt proceedings, after which the account was unlocked.

“The bank manager was named in our petition. We warned them that if the account wasn’t restored, they’d face contempt of court charges. Only then did they comply,” she said.

The FIA did not respond formally to questions from Al Jazeera, but an FIA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that the investigation into Toor was necessary due to what he called “unusual” financial activity.

“Asad Toor has spent millions of rupees on parrots, and his only income appears to be from YouTube. Is that not strange?” the official said.

He added that under antimoney-laundering laws, the FIA is authorised to investigate any financial dealings that appear suspicious.

“Our goal was to question these individuals, including Toor and his associates, and understand what’s happening. That’s why we froze the accounts,” he said.

However, the official declined to explain why no prior notice was issued to any of the affected individuals. He said those affected should write to the FIA after court orders to unblock their accounts if they want them reopened.

Journalists in the line of fire

Another journalist known for his critical stance towards the state is Matiullah Jan, who is in his 50s and also lives in Islamabad, where he hosts a show on the news channel Neo News and also runs his own YouTube channel, MJTv. He underwent a similar ordeal in April when the accounts of his wife and sister as well as his own were frozen.

Jan has previously been harassed and arrested on various charges. Last year, he was detained by the police on drug charges, which he denied, before eventually being cleared by a court. His YouTube channel was one of the 27 flagged by authorities last week along with Toor’s.

Jan said he also received no formal notice from the FIA that his account was being frozen. He only learned about the account closures through a verbal message from his bank.

“My sister’s account was restored after my lawyer brother intervened. My wife’s account was unblocked a month later only after the bank couldn’t produce any written suspension order,” Jan told Al Jazeera.

Waiting for justice

Nasir and Khan, the bird sellers, took their case to court in Islamabad as well. On July 3, a court ruled in favour of both of them and ordered their bank accounts to be reopened. Nasir finally managed to get access to his account on July 5, more than two months after it had been suspended.

“Thankfully, I could still rely on my children for help. But my main concern was paying for my wife’s cancer medication. It’s deeply frustrating how easily the state can punish someone without explanation or apology,” Nasir said.

In Karachi, Khan hasn’t been as fortunate. Despite the court order, he said he still cannot access his account.

He said the suspension is hurting his business because he now has to rely on his brothers to facilitate transactions. His customers, he said, often seem suspicious about why he can’t provide details of a personal bank account.

“The government wants us to go cashless, to operate digitally and then shuts our accounts without explanation. What do I tell my customers? That doing business with another customer got my account frozen?” a frustrated Khan asked.

Pakistan remains one of the most restrictive countries in terms of news media freedom as journalists face constant threats to their security and livelihoods.

In its latest report, Human Rights Watch said journalists in Pakistan “faced intimidation, harassment, and digital and physical surveillance for perceived criticism of the government”. In the news media freedom rankings compiled by Reporters Without Borders in May, Pakistan dropped by five levels from number 152 to 158 out of 180 countries.

Farieha Aziz, a rights activist, said journalists are increasingly being targeted via legal tools and state agencies like the FIA.

“This is about using the legal system to wear people down, dragging them into courts, forcing them to hire lawyers. It’s nothing short of legal harassment and a culture of collective punishment,” she told Al Jazeera.

Khan, who is still awaiting restoration of his account, said he holds no grudge against Toor but wants to know what crime he’s being punished for.

“Does this mean if I talk to someone the state doesn’t like, they can freeze my account? At least tell me what I did wrong. Issue a notice to me if you want. But you can’t punish me silently when I’ve done nothing,” he said.