AG takes notice of campaign against CJP-designate

Writes letter to Ministry of Interior and
Information Technology Division; Nisar directs FIA
to hold investigation and bring culprits to book

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Wednesday asked the Ministry of Interior and Information Technology Division to take action against individual users and group accounts on the social media for defamatory claims against the Chief Justice of Pakistan-designate Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.

Taking strong notice of the malicious campaign against Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Ashtar Ausaf wrote a letter to the secretary Ministry of Interior and secretary Ministry of Information Technology regarding the matter.

“It is brought to your attention that various images are being circulated on the social media and internet websites by some Pakistan internet users and one  of such images actually shows President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Iqbal Zafar Jhagra”, says the letter available with The News.

Contrary to this reality of the image, the letter said the same is being circulated by certain user accounts on social media as purportedly showing President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Justice designate Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. 

It further reads that the said image is also being captioned with incorrect, misleading and slanderous allegations with respect to Justice Saqib’s professional capabilities. The letter said the sharing of such image under the incorrect pretenses constituted an act of misrepresentation, slander and defamation. 

The attorney general contended that the same were punishable by law, adding that sharing of the image under such pretenses also constituted an attack on the superior judiciary, which added to the gravity of criminal acts. 

“This trend needs to be checked.” The attorney general asked the secretaries Interior and IT to initiate criminal action against individual users and group accounts on the social media, and against websites, sharing the image under or any other incorrect pretenses, allegation, misrepresentations or defamatory claims against the chief justice designate. 

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took notice of the AG’s letter and directed the FIA to hold investigation and bring culprits to the book.