ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has interrogated dozens of social media activists and arrested five suspects for allegedly running an online smear campaign against army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
These arrests were made after several raids in Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the cybercrime wing of the federal agency. The suspects have been handed over to the counter-terrorism wing of the FIA.
Social media activist Maqsood Arif was arrested from Sabzazar Lahore by FIA. He is allegedly behind over 2,100 Twitter accounts involved in a social media propaganda campaign against the army.
During the interrogation, Maqsood named other members of his network and the agency arrested another six people from different cities. Two of the accused were arrested from Islamabad and one each from Lahore, Multan, Karachi, and Faisalabad.
According to the details, at least three people were apprehended from Lahore and eight from Faisalabad and Gujrat. FIA Cyber Crime wing says they have a list of 50 activists who were operating hundreds of anonymous/fake accounts.
The FIA sprang into action after an online campaign against state institutions including the chief justice of Pakistan following the dismissal of the PTI government. However, the cybercrime wing could not initiate action after Section 20 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) has been annulled.
Meanwhile, DG FIA was given a briefing by the cybercrime wing wherein thousands of pages involved in anti-state activities were identified. The director-general was informed that at least 2,000 accounts were involved in a smear campaign against the army.
Earlier, the residence of former prime minister Imran Khan’s focal person on digital media Dr Arsalan Khalid’s house was also raided in Lahore. The PTI has condemned the raid and requested the FIA to look into the matter.
PTI leader Asad Umar said that the raid on Khalid’s house is “highly condemnable”, PTI’s Shireen Mazari said the raid did not surprise her as “deep-seated intolerance for criticism leads to irrational rage.”
PTI leaders have distanced themselves from social media posts against state institutions. However, the party has urged party activists to report if they or anyone they know “is getting threats or targeted for political victimization by anyone.”
