JHELUM: Police on Tuesday said it had arrested cleric Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order, 1960 (MPO).
Mirza's arrest, as per the police, comes against the backdrop of a complaint filed by various religious parties against him. The cleric has now been shifted to jail.
Section 3 of the MPO 1960, commonly known as 3-MPO, empowers the government to direct the arrest and detention of a person to prevent him from "acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order".
Police registered a case against the religious scholar at the City Police Station on the complaint of a local citizen.
The police confirmed that the charges include provisions under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Mirza has at least 3.1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel with 2,400 videos.
In 2021, the cleric survived an assassination attempt and sustained injuries when he was stabbed with a knife by assailants during one of his weekly lectures.
