Solangi denies FIA ‘witch-hunt’ of journalists

Following the Supreme Court’s consideration of complaints pertaining to purported journalistic harassment, interim Federal Minister for Information Murtaza Solangi responded to inquiries from the media concerning the alleged ‘witch-hunt’ conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against media personnel.

Solangi, the Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir, and other members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) denied media reports that accused the state authorities of “harassing” media people by threatening them with legal notices while they were looking into a campaign of smears against judges and the judiciary.

Following the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Qazi Faez Isa. Taking notice of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) list of journalists. And YouTubers accused of launching a social media smear campaign against judges and the judiciary, Solangi spoke to the media.

He went into detail about how the JIT established by the caretaker government on January 17. And held two sessions on January 17. And January 23 in order to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the anti-judiciary campaign on social media.

The JIT traced 600 suspected social media accounts, named 100 suspects in the summary of identified persons. And registered 100 inquiries, said the caretaker minister. Adding that 110 notices have sent by the investigators, whereas. The suspects include 22 political workers and politicians, as well as 32 journalists.

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During the media talk, a presentation was also shown to the journalists to highlight some of the social media accounts involved in running online campaigns to malign the judges and the judiciary.

He clarified that the move made so far the issuance of notices sent to the suspected individuals. “Issuing notices to someone does not mean to harass someone or declare someone a criminal. If there is an arrest, FIR [First Information Report], house raid. Abduction or chase then it can called harassment.”

Solangi continued that under Article 19 of the Constitution, freedom of speech was not an indefinite thing as the law also imposed some reasonable restrictions i.e. running smear campaigns against the armed forces and the judiciary.

Criticism can be protected by law but not the campaigns based on insults and character assassination, he added. Criticism should made in a civilised manner instead of levelling fabricated allegations.

The state won’t allow attacks on the government, institutions and the judiciary at any cost, Solangi stressed.

He added that the Supreme Court took up a case against the anti-judiciary campaign on social media. And an action was likely to taken against the responsible.

The minister said that the concerned institutions have the legal right to issue notices and they stood to their stance, adding that the JIT continued its probe without indulging in any illegal action.

According to Solangi, these disparaging. And character-assassination campaigns decreased after the JIT was established.

In response to a query regarding the proposals for a strong cyber authority, Solangi rejected the creation of a strong organization by the guardians to regulate social media in Pakistan. Stating that laws could only be passed by the parliament because the national assembly does not yet exist and that the Senate elections are scheduled for March.