Nisar slams FIA over Salman Haider blasphemy case booking

FIA denies lodging a case against the activists who went missing last month for allegedly committing blasphemy

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chauhdry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday slammed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for lodging a case against Salman Haider and other activists who went missing last month for allegedly committing blasphemy.

“How is it possible that the FIA registered a case against someone without prior investigation,” Nisar was quoted as saying in a statement.

“The bloggers and their respective families have been going through a tough time for the last few days. Who has given FIA the right to increase their difficulties?” he asked.

 



Meanwhile, the investigation agency denied lodging a case against the activists. “I can confirm that we have not registered any such case,” FIA Deputy Director Noman Ashraf Bodla said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

“We receive a lot of complains but it does not mean we register a case against each application. This news is completely fake,” he added.

Earlier, media reports suggested Bodla had directed an officer to call Haider to the FIA office for investigation following a complain from Lal Masjid's Shuhada Foundation.

Haider was among five men who went missing from different cities across Pakistan last month.

Two bloggers who vanished earlier last month left the country fearing for their safety, relatives told AFP on Monday, following a virulent media campaign painting them as blasphemers.



Allegations on social media networks Facebook and Twitter and by right-wing TV hosts that the missing men were blasphemers has triggered a flood of threats despite denials from their worried families.

The allegation can be fatal in Pakistan, where at least 17 people remain on death row for blasphemy.