ISLAMABAD: The country’s premier spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has “totally disassociated” itself from the recent attack on a journalist and YouTuber Asad Ali Toor in Islamabad, says a handout issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday.

The statement said that a “high level contact” was established between the ministry and the ISI over the incident in which a digital media journalist was “allegedly attacked” in Islamabad and the ISI had stated that it had nothing to do with the incident.

“Such continued allegations against ISI show that the ISI is being a target of the fifth generation war under an organised conspiracy,” said the statement, issued a day after the journalist organisations held protest demonstrations against the growing incidents of attacks on journalists.

“The ISI believes that when the alleged attackers can clearly be identified in the CCTV footages then investigation should proceed against them and stern action should be taken against those responsible for it,” says the statement.

It says the ISI has assured its cooperation in the investigations.

The information ministry officials are in contact with the Islamabad police and hopefully the accused would soon be arrested.

Mr Toor had been severely beaten up by unidentified assailants outside his residence in Sector F-10 on May 25.

According to the police, some people gathered outside Mr Toor’s residence located in an apartment building. A scuffle took place between him and these people who fled the scene after thrashing him.

Narrating some of the details of the incident, Mr Toor said through video that the attackers had asked him about the source of his funds.

Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had taken notice of the incident and ordered the Islamabad police chief to probe the matter.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2021