Islamabad

Pakistan’s Federal investigators have summoned at least 65 individuals, including 47 people from mainstream and social media, amid an investigation into what it calls a "malicious campaign against judges of the Supreme Court", essentially for expressing their opinion on social networking platforms regarding the functioning and observations made by the incumbent chief justice of Pakistan.

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The development comes as hundreds of social media accounts, including those affiliated with TV channels, shared slanderous content after the verdict on the PTI election symbol. These social media accounts have been allegedly involved in running anti-judiciary campaigns for months.

Amid the probe, the apex investigation authority served notices to 65 individuals, and hearing regarding these notices will be held on January 30 and 31. 

The list issued by FIA includes names of prominent journalists namely Asad Ali Toor, ⁠Paras Jahanzeb, ⁠Iqrar Ul Hassan, ⁠Siddique Jan, ⁠Matiullah Jan, ⁠Syed Akbar Hussain, ⁠Danish Qamar, ⁠Saqib Bashir, ⁠Sajjad Ali Khan, ⁠Syed Haider Raza Mehdi, ⁠Shaheen Sehbai, ⁠Cyril Almeida, ⁠Rizwan Ahmed Khan, ⁠Adeel Raja, ⁠Riaz Ul Haq, ⁠Sabir Shakir, ⁠Syed Essan Hassan Naqvi, ⁠Muhammad Faheem Akhtar, ⁠Saqib Hussain, ⁠Sohail Rasheed, ⁠Nasir Mehmood, ⁠Ehtisham Naseer, ⁠Sibtain Raza, ⁠Shiraz Afzal, ⁠Muzammal Afzal, ⁠M. Afzaal Bela, ⁠Nasreen Qidwai, ⁠Jibran Nasir, ⁠Tayyab Ijaz and ⁠Aneela Munir.

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Ironically, most of the journalists who have been issued notice are those viewed as impartial voices and have in the past campaigned for the now incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa when he was being victimised under false assets beyond means charge by the Imran Khan government.

Article 19 of the Pakistani Constitution talks about the freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Every citizen of Pakistan has the right to hold opinions, the right to express them, and the right to speech.

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Earlier, the caretaker government had formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) headed by the additional director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing and including representatives from the Intelligence Bureau, Inter-Services Intelligence, the deputy inspector-general of Islamabad police, a representative of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, and any other co-opted member.

JIT's terms of reference are to "determine the facts behind a malicious social media campaign attempting to tarnish the image of the honorable judges of the Supreme Court."

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The committee has been tasked with identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators under relevant laws, submitting charges in appropriate courts, and proposing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Following extensive hearings last week, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to nullify the PTI’s electoral symbol 'bat' and deemed its intra-party polls as "unconstitutional." 

The verdict faced criticism from legal experts and political analysts, with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressing concern over the judgement.

(With inputs from agencies)