Ministry’s purported letter on sects: PM takes notice, secretary interior directed to launch inquiry

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Saturday said Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken a serious notice of contents of a notification purportedly issued by the Ministry of Interior referring to certain sects and classes.

In a message on the social media, the minister said the secretary interior had been directed to launch an inquiry to this effect immediately. “PM Imran Khan has taken a serious notice of the contents of a notification purportedly issued by the Ministry of Interior referring to certain sects/classes; secretary interior has been directed to launch an inquiry to this effect immediately,” the minister said in the tweet. The tweet by the minister triggered a new debate on the social media as to how and who issued the notification and was it issued without the knowledge of state minister and the secretary interior. The communication carried the signature of a section officer of the ministry and the date mentioned on it was February 14. Even some posted apparently the message of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, which he had tweeted on May 17, 2017 to protest the government’s alleged threats to his party activists, linked to social media.

“Govt abusing cybercrime law to politically victimise PTI social media activists by threatening/arresting them. Unacceptable in a democracy,” the tweet, referring to Imran, reads. The Ministry of Interior issued a communication Friday, identifying five different organisations involved in carrying out a campaign on the social media against the visit of ‘a VVIP delegation to Pakistan’. The organisations named in the communication are, Tameer-e-Watan, Imamia Students Organisation Talibaat, Karachi, Imam Students Organisation, Peshawar, Tehreek-e-Himayat-e-Mazlumeen-Jahan-e-Pakistan and Shia Wahdat News.

The communication was even dispatched to all provincial governments as well as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the Federal Investigation Agency, directing them to track and sensitize these organisations to refrain from the negative propaganda against the delegation. There were reports of arrest of some, belonging to these organisations.