Supreme Court takes notice of FIA’s summons to journalists

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Saturday has taken notice of the summons issued to journalists by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over the malicious anti-judiciary campaign, ARY News reported.

Following the formation of joint investigation team (JIT), the FIA issued summons notices to 65 individuals including 47 journalists from mainstream media and social media.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa met stakeholders of Supreme Court and High Court Press Association – who had demanded withdrawal of FIA notices issued to journalists.

CJP Qazi Faez Isa had summoned the leadership of journalistic bodies for a meeting on the joint declaration.

Taking notice of the issue, the chief justice has fixed the hearing before a three-member bench on Jan 29 (Monday).

It is pertinent to mention here that the caretaker government constituted JIT to investigate a campaign reportedly launched against the judiciary following the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict that upheld the Dec 22 decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) depriving PTI of its iconic symbol — ‘bat’.

According to a notification – a copy of which is available with ARY News, the federal government constituted a JIT in terms of Section 30 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Additional Director General (Cyber Crime Wing) FIA would be the Convener of the committee, which comprises representatives of Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and DIG Islamabad Police.

The JIT would ascertain facts behind “malicious social media campaign” attempting to malign the image of Judges of the apex court.

Later, the authorities have officially decided to include the names of individuals leading anti-judiciary campaigns on social media in the Exit Control List (ECL) and the Stop List.