JIT summons PTI's Jibran Ilyas in anti-state social media campaign

According to sources, a meeting of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was held under the chairmanship of IG Islamabad Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi. The JIT has so far included eight individuals in the investigation, and Jibran Ilyas has been summoned for the next meeting.

Jibran Ilyas is believed to play a crucial role in the harmful and destructive campaign. Substantial evidence has been found regarding his associates, and further evidence is being collected.

Jibran Ilyas was born in Pakistan but moved to Chicago in his teens. He is a cybersecurity expert working on data breaches for Google and teaches digital forensics at Northwestern University. He began volunteering for Imran Khan’s party in 2011 and became its social media lead in 2022, coordinating its digital strategy from Chicago.

Sources indicate that Jibran Ilyas, while based outside Pakistan, is a significant player in the negative and destructive campaign against state institutions on social media, collaborating with both internal and external elements. He is involved in spreading unrest, disrupting law and order, and fostering hatred among the public through various means.

Since February 17, 2024, X (formerly Twitter) has been largely inaccessible in Pakistan. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) submitted a response to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), citing national security concerns and X's refusal to comply with requests under the Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content as the primary reasons for this restriction.