Lawmaker can’t use FIA in ‘personal dispute’

A ruling party lawmaker has been barred from using the federal investigation authorities in a personal dispute while the authority was told to file a reply within three weeks.

This was directed on Monday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, as it heard a petition filed by citizens Abdul Rehman and Fatima Abdul Rehman on receiving an ambiguous notice from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a social media post against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Kanwal Shauzab for allegedly cutting trees in the federal capital.

During Monday’s hearing, Shauzab’s counsel Shah Khawar maintained that the petitioner had violated the cybercrime laws by circulating images and videos of the lawmaker on the internet without her permission with a false allegation.

At this, the chief justice asked whether it was the FIA’s job to probe such matters and send notices to citizens.

“What will become of the agency if it starts dealing with cases of personal disputes,” CJ Minallah remarked, adding that the agency will then have to give up its regular work to pursue such cases.

The court went on to ask how many such petitions has the FIA received and how did they rise to the top of their case priority list. The court remarked that if anyone is influential or the elite, the FIA ​​does not remember the law and immediately takes action while cases filed by ordinary people stay pending.

“State institutions are supposed to serve the public, not the elite,” CJ Minallah said, adding that the elite culture must come to an end.

The chief justice recalled that the FIA had issued a notice without any date nor was the purpose for the notice listed. The court remarked that this is an issue which is surfacing in every case involving the FIA.

CJ Minallah stated that the FIA may not be aware of how sending such a notice to a citizen can harass them.

“Instead of admitting the mistake, FIA is compelling the court to take further action against it,” the court expressed.

FIA’s investigation officer (IO) apologised to the court, however, CJ Minallah said it is not about an apology and asked the agency to explain under what law did it initiate an inquiry against the petitioner and what had they found.

The officer explained that the notice was sent based on a social media post of the petitioner wherein they accused the lawmaker of cutting down trees and calling them a fascist. Meanwhile, the MNA’s counsel maintained that no tree was cut down for the construction of the house and that the allegation was baseless. Contending that the court is being misled, he offered for an inquiry to be conducted to ascertain the truth.

Khawar continued that as a result of the contentious social media post, the lawmaker was subject to heavy criticism as millions viewed the videos while she received numerous phone calls asking her what she was doing.

At this, CJ Minallah said that the court respects elected representatives but this was no way to deal with things.

The court asked if the FIA approached the CDA to learn how many trees were chopped before sending a notice. CJ Minallah suggested the MNA file a defamation case instead of using the FIA. The court adjourned hearings for three weeks with directions for the FIA to submit a written reply.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2020.