ATC extends remand of blasphemy suspects

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday extended by four more days the physical remand of four suspects, currently in custody of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The men are allegedly involved in publishing blasphemous content on social media.

ATC-I Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi handed over custody of the suspects to FIA after they were produced before the court on Monday after their 10-day physical remand with the agency expired.

While presenting the suspects before the court, FIA officials contended that the suspects had been arrested on suspicion of sharing and spreading blasphemous content via social media.

Earlier, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court had observed that the availability of blasphemous material on social media had a direct bearing on the integrity, security and defence of Pakistan and all the institutions need to rise to the occasion in order to protect ideological and geographical boundaries of the country.

On March 22, the IHC was informed that an FIR had been registered with the FIA under sections 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298, 298-A, 298-B, 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code along with Section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, (PECA) 2016, and Sections 6(f), 7(h), 8&9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The IHC had further ordered the authorities to include sections related to blasphemy and pornography in the Cyber Crimes Act and to enquire whether any non-governmental organisations were operating in Pakistan with an agenda to spread blasphemous content and promote pornography.

Justice Siddiqui had also ordered that the top leadership of the country should become pro-active on the issue and to raise a national “firewall” which allows monitoring of the country’s internet traffic and all the users.

Moreover, the IHC ordered to register cases against the alleged blasphemers, constitute a Joint-Investigation Team, place culprits’ names on the Exit Control List and utilise the entire state machinery, if needed, to remove blasphemous content from the social media.

Source: The Express Tribune