The journalist was identified as Asad Toor.

The journalist shared a copy of the FIR on his Twitter page.

It was registered on a complaint by Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed, a resident of Rawalpindi, who claimed that "in the last few days, [Toor] has used derogatory language for high-level government institutions, including the Pakistan Army which is a grave crime according to the law", reports Dawn News.

The FIR has been registered under sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code and sections 11 (hate speech), 20 (offences against dignity of a person) and 37 (unlawful online content) of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, reported the Pakistan-based newspaper.

Reacting to the incident, Toor tweeted: "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Without listening me reportedly on the complaint of a proxy character Hafiz Ehtisham Rawalpindi police registered FIR against me allegedly on being 'Anti #Pakistan and propagating against #PakistanArmy on social media.' Such fascist tactics can’t silent me."

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the incident and tweeted: "HRCP condemns the registration of an FIR against journalist
@AsadAToor

on charges of defamation. The alarming increase in such actions against journalists confirms that the government is bent on muzzling freedom of expression."