Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) has asked the Interior Ministry and Information Technology Division to take action against people who are maligning the chief justice of Pakistan-designate on social media.

A picture showing President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra is being shared on social media. Some social media users mistakenly or deliberately wrote the caption as CJP-designate Saqib Nisar is sitting with Nawaz and Mamnoon. The AGP, through a confidential letter, condemned the sharing of such image with incorrect caption and termed it an attempt to malign the judiciary. However, the letter has not stated any provision or rule under which the letter is sent to the ministry and IT Division.

Daily Times tried to contact AGP Ashtar Ausaf but he was not available for comment. “Contrary to this reality of the image, the same is being circulated by certain user accounts on social media as purportedly showing president, prime minister and Chief Justice Designate Justice Mian Saqib Nisar,” read the letter signed by AGP’s Secretary Khalid Niazi.

The image is also being captioned with incorrect, misleading and slanderous allegations with respect to Justice Saqib Nisar’s professional capabilities, the letter added.

It also read that as such, the sharing of the image under the aforementioned incorrect pretenses constitutes an act of misrepresentation, slander and defamation. The letter read that such act is punishable by law and this trend needs to be checked because such pretenses also constitute an attack on the judiciary of Pakistan. The letter advised criminal action against individual users and group accounts on social media and websites, sharing the image or any other, incorrect pretenses, allegations, misrepresentations or defamatory claims against designate chief justice. “Criminal action may be initiated under Chapter XXI of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Defamation Ordinance 2002, section 198 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 and Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015, the letter concluded. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has taken notice of the slander campaign against Justice Saqib Nisar. The minister has also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to take stern action against those involved in maligning the CJP-designate on social media. Last month a private TV channel aired news about alleged meeting between Supreme Court Justice Hani Muslim and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Nehal Hashmi “to discuss Panamagate issue”.