Smear campaign against new CJP, says Nisar orders probe

AGP sought action in a letter to interior ministry

ISLAMABAD: Office of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) has written a letter to the interior ministry to take action against individuals and groups that are making controversial remarks on the social media against the Supreme Court’s incoming chief justice, Mian Saqib Nisar.

The letter, written by AGP’s Secretary Khalid Khan Niazi, says that various images are being circulated on the social media and websites by some Pakistani internet users.

One of such image shows President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and the CJP-designate Mian Saqib Nisar.



“The said image is also being captioned with incorrect, misleading and slanderous allegations with respect to the CJP-designate Mian Saqib’s professional capabilities,” the letter says.

It contends that the sharing of the image under incorrect pretenses constitutes an act of misrepresentation, slander and defamation that is punishable by law.

“Sharing of the image under such pretenses also constitutes an attack on the superior judiciary of Pakistan, which adds to the gravity of the criminal acts. This trend needs to be checked,” it says.

The official advises that criminal action be initiated against such individual users and group accounts on social media and against the websites, under the defamatory claims against the chief justice of Pakistan.



“Criminal action may be initiated under chapter XXI of the Pakistan Penal Code (Act XLV of 1960). The Defamation Ordinance 2002 section 198 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 and section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015,” it says.

Taking notice of the letter, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday directed the FIA to probe into the malicious social media campaign and take action against those responsible.

Earlier, the legal community also expressed concern over the campaign against the Supreme Court judges. Lawyers also urged the federal government to take action against social media websites promoting this campaign.

A well-planned campaign started to malign the top court judges on all forms of media after the last hearing of Panamagate case on December 9.



Talking to The Express Tribune, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Rasheed A Rizvi urged the government to take action against those involved in maligning the judges with ‘ulterior motives’.

“I see a dangerous trend on social media that judges are being defamed. Therefore, lawyers must play their role for the integrity of judiciary,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2016.