ISLAMABAD: Media bodies including the Press Association of the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court Journalists Association have filed a joint petition requesting the top court to cancel a joint investigation team (JIT) probing a so-called social media campaign against judges in which many journalists have been served notices.
The interior ministry set up a five-member joint investigation team last month to “ascertain facts behind a malicious social media campaign” against Supreme Court judges.
The panel was formed under Section 30 (power to investigate) of the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 and convened by the additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing. It was formed against the backdrop of a “smear campaign” that erupted on social media soon after a Jan. 13 Supreme Court judgment that upheld an Election Commission of Pakistan ruling to revoke the iconic electoral symbol, the cricket bat, of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The decision meant all candidates from the party had to run in Feb. 8 elections as independent candidates with different election symbols.
The petition filed by the journalists’ bodies said roving inquiries by the FIA, the appointment of the JIT and multitudinous summons with regards to vague allegations regarding a so-called “explicit and malicious campaign against Hon. Judges of Supreme Court of Pakistan” or “derogatory remarks against the Superior Judiciary of Pakistan” had a “chilling effect” and unreasonably restricted the right of free speech and information guaranteed under Article 19 and 19-A of the Constitution.
“It is, accordingly, an issue of public importance involving the enforcement of fundamental rights,” the petitioner submitted, arguing that the right to punish (or show forbearance in respect of) speech that scandalized the court or brought the court or a judge into hatred, ridicule or contempt vested exclusively with the apex court under Article 204 of the Constitution and the executive could not be allowed to usurp that discretion, as it infringed the doctrine of separation of powers. It said the power to punish the charge of scandalizing a judge or the judiciary, which the court itself so sparingly exercised, could not be handed over to the FIA to be used as and when it deemed fit.
A total of 65 notices had been issued to various persons, including more than 30 journalists, in at least 115 inquiries by the JIT in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Gilgit, Islamabad, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Quetta and Gwadar.
Pakistani anchorman Imran Riaz Khan was arrested from his house in Lahore last week over accusations he had participated in an anti-judiciary social media campaign. Another reporter Asad Ali Toor was also arrested on charges of orchestrating a campaign against the state and its officials, with the “objective to coerce, intimidate, and incite violence” against them through his social media platforms. In recent months, several of Toor’s posts and videos have been critical of government agencies, Pakistan’s military establishment and the Supreme Court.
