FIA registers 100 inquiries against journalists, politicians as per law: Solangi

Supreme Court takes up today suo motu notice of alleged harassment of journalists by FIA n Info minister defends notices issued to journalists, political workers n Says criticism and character assassination are two different things n Law will take its own course against those involved in running social media campaign against judiciary.

FIA DG says notices issued to identified individuals to get their side of the version.

 

ISLAMABAD  -  The Supreme Court of Paki­stan will take up the suo motu notice of the alleged harassment of journalists by the Federal Investiga­tion Agency (FIA) on Mon­day (today).

A three-member SC bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa and compris­ing Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musar­rat Hilali will hear the mat­ter. Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) took suo motu notice of the alleged harassment of journalists by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the back­drop of an alleged malicious campaign targeted towards superior judiciary.

While defending the no­tices issued by the FIA, Caretaker Minister for In­formation, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Sunday said that the Joint Investi­gation Team (JIT) was in­vestigating the “malicious campaign” against the top judiciary on social media in accordance with the law. 

Addressing a news confer­ence along with officials of the FIA, PTA and other rel­evant institutions, the min­ister said the JIT was formed on January 16 to probe into the anti-judiciary campaign on the social media network­ing sites. 

He said the JIT’s first meet­ing held was on January 17 while the second one con­vened on January 23. The process to probe into the drive was still underway, he added. So far, 600 social media accounts were inves­tigated, he said, adding as many as 100 inquiries were registered.

The minister said notices were served on 110 individ­uals that included 32 jour­nalists and 22 politicians and political workers. The notic­es to the identified individ­uals were served in accor­dance with the law, Solangi said while brushing aside the reports regarding the harass­ment of journalists in the matter related to a “malicious campaign” against top judges. 

The minister said it was imperative to bring forth the facts in this regard. So far no First Information Report was lodged against anybody and nobody arrested for this matter.

Solangi said the law would take its own course and ac­tions against those who were involved in running the cam­paign against the judiciary would be taken in accordance with the law. To a query, he said there were reasonable restrictions on the freedom of expression and the law of the land prohibited from run­ning campaigns against the judiciary and Armed Forces.

“This is not about criticism rather it is related to charac­ter assassination and ridicul­ing [of the judiciary],” he said in response to another query. 

“What has been done against the judges of the apex court during the last cou­ple of days on social media, it does not come under the pretext of criticism,” he said while clarifying that there should be a fine line between the criticism and ridiculing someone. 

To another query, he said the caretaker government could only take measures in accordance with its man­date. However, the legislation on any issue was the job of the Parliament whose lower house did not exist as of now.

“Nobody has been picked up since the JIT is formed,” he said while dispelling the im­pression of a witch-hunt un­der the garb of the JIT. 

He said the intensity of the malicious campaign had de­creased significantly since the formation of the JIT.

FIA Director General Ah­mad Ishaque Jahangir said notices were served to give an opportunity to the identi­fied individuals to give their side of version on the issue. “Not every notice end up in the FIR,” he added.

The suo motu notice was taken by the CJP following the adoption of a joint resolu­tion by the Press Association of the Supreme Court (PAS) and the Islamabad High Court Journalist Association (IHCJA) and after his meeting in chambers with the new­ly elected representatives of the two bodies.

The case will be taken up along with another one insti­tuted in 2021 at the request of the PAS regarding harass­ment of journalists. The court office has also intimated the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP), PEMRA chairman, FIA director general and the Is­lamabad police chief with a directive to appear in person before the court.

The resolution was adopt­ed after the PAS and IHCJA representatives held a joint meeting against the back drop of reports circulat­ing on social media that the FIA’s cyber wing, after tak­ing notice of the smear cam­paign against judges, had is­sued notices to around 47 journalists.

The resolution regretted that FIA notices had sent a chilling effect and caused concern among the report­ers who cover the proceed­ings of the Supreme Court and contravenes the rights guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Both the elected bodies, while condemning the notic­es to journalists, called upon the authorities not to ha­rass them, and immediately withdraw the notices or else both groups will approach the representative bodies of journalists to chalk out a fu­ture line of action.