Pakistan: Accused of campaigning on social media against army chief, accused sent to jail on remand

Judicial magistrate remanded the accused in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for two days. A corruption campaign was launch...

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Judicial magistrate remanded the accused in the custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for two days. A corruption campaign was launched against the chief.

 

The FIA told the court that the man launched a campaign against the army chief through his Twitter account. File Photo: MAK NEWS-21

The FIA ​​told the court that the man launched a campaign against the army chief through his Twitter account.

The FIA ​​had requested the magistrate to approve the 14-day physical remand of the accused but the court granted the two-day remand of the accused.

The accused was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from Lahore yesterday.

The FIA ​​had arrested at least eight people from across Punjab on suspicion of being involved in a campaign against the army after cracking down on social media activists.

READ ALSO: FIA cracks down on online campaigners, arrests 8

The detainees are being prosecuted under the provisions of the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PICA).

The FIA counter-terrorism operation was launched on social networking sites after Imran's resignation following a successful no-confidence motion by the joint opposition in the National Assembly on April 10. The whirlwind wing was in motion.

The most trending hashtags on Twitter since last Sunday were targeted at the military, the judiciary and the new government, and the number of tweets using these hashtags reached 4.3 million on Tuesday.

An FIA official told Dawn that they had arrested about eight suspects from different parts of Punjab, including Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujarat, in connection with a social media campaign against the army and judiciary. More arrests are expected in the coming days.

Read more: PTI decides to go to High Court against alleged harassment of its social media workers

A recent meeting of Pakistan Army officials yesterday also took note of the recent criticism of the institution on social media. 

 A statement from the Army media wing, ISPR, said the forum had taken note of the recent propaganda campaign by some quarters to discredit the Pakistan Army and create division between the institution and society.

The statement further said that the meeting expressed full confidence in the deliberate stance taken by the leadership to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law at all costs.

The statement said that in the meeting, the forum also emphasized that Pakistan national security is sacred, the Pakistan Army has always stood by the state institutions without any compromise and will always stand for its protection.