FIA rounds up five anti-army propagandists

Arrests made in Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday swung into action and launched a crackdown against an ongoing smear campaign against army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, arresting five suspects, including a political activist.

The arrests were made during several raids carried out in Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the cybercrime wing of the federal agency.

The suspects, including political activist Maqsood Arif, have been handed over to the counter-terrorism wing of the FIA.

The crackdown was prompted by an online campaign against state institutions, including the chief justice of Pakistan, following the dismissal of the PTI government.

According to a senior official of the FIA, the cybercrime wing could not initiate action against the detained suspects after the annulment of Section 20 of the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act.

On the other hand, an officer of FIA’s counter-terror wing said more arrests were expected in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the director-general of the FIA was given a briefing by the cybercrime wing wherein thousands of pages involved in anti-state activities were identified. The DG was informed that at least 2,000 accounts were involved in a smear campaign against the army and its chief

Military takes notice

Meanwhile, the country's top military brass also took notice of the recent propaganda campaign by some quarters to malign Pakistan Army and create division between the institution and society, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Tuesday.

"National security of Pakistan is sacrosanct. Pakistan Army has always stood by the state institutions to guard it and always will, without any compromise," the ISPR statement said.

It added that the 79th Formation Commanders’ Conference expressed "complete confidence in the leadership’s well-considered stance to uphold the Constitution and rule of law at all costs".

The statement came amid a barrage of social media posts and accounts peddling rumours about the military in the wake of the ouster of Imran Khan-led government through joint opposition efforts.