ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has withdrawn its earlier order summoning the directors general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as well as the chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR). ), for a Hearing scheduled for Friday.
The case belongs to a judicial investigation into alleged organized digital fraud.
“This order is a partial modification of the order passed today. In the previous order, the Secretaries of the Cabinet Division, the Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Directors General of the FIA and the IB, and the President of the NCHR They were ordered to appear in person on the following date,” Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan stated in a revised order issued later in the day.
However, the judge noted that after a detailed review of the case file in the courtroom after the hearing, the need for his personal presence seemed premature. This was mainly because the FIA’s response indicated that despite written requests to the Special Branch of the Punjab Police for evidence in support of its report (the focus of the court petition), no such evidence was provided. .
Furthermore, the contact person appointed by SSP (Intelligence) Rawalpindi did not submit any material to substantiate the report, apart from general information.
The amended order also highlighted discrepancies in that paragraph 4 of the petition states that 90 per cent of the complainants in the FIRs were members of the gang mentioned in the FactFocus report dated 29.01.2024, but a quick scan of the FIR attached with the petition tends to show that this is not the case.
The order added that for now, only the assistance of the petitioner’s counsel and the Additional Solicitor General would be required. However, the Punjab Inspector General of Police has been directed to appoint a knowledgeable officer to assist the court in response to the FIA’s claim that no substantial material implicating the alleged gang was provided despite its disclosure.
More than 100 families of victims, represented by lawyers Abid Saqi and Usman Warraich, had petitioned the high court to form a judicial commission.
They based their allegation on a Punjab Special Branch report titled “The Business of Blasphemy”. The report alleged that a suspected gang had been trapping youths in blasphemy cases and extorting them after lodging complaints with the FIA in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
The petition claims that this gang is the complainant in almost 90 per cent of the blasphemy cases recorded by the FIA. Operating under the name “Blasphemy Law Commission”, the group is said to be made up of men and women who target poor and lower middle class Muslim families.
A worrying pattern emerges in the FIRs: of more than 400 alleged victims, 70 percent are young men and women in their twenties or younger. Many of the victims are professionals, including engineers, Hafiz-e-Quran and graduates in various fields.
They are reportedly detained in Adiala, Camp Jail, Kot Lakhpat and Karachi Central jails.
The petitioners revealed that they had approached the federal government with a formal request dated August 4, 2024, requesting the formation of a commission of inquiry into the Special Branch report. However, to date no action has been taken.
On Wednesday, Justice Khan initially expressed displeasure with the state authorities for their inaction and summoned the heads of the three institutions.
However, the order was revised and the hearing was adjourned until Friday.
