The interim federal administration has assembled a JIT consisting of six members to probe the continuing cyberattacks on Supreme Court justices and report their findings to the Ministry of the Interior in fifteen days.
Grade-20 officers from the Intelligence Bureau and Inter-Services Intelligence, an Islamabad deputy inspector general of police, a Grade-20 officer from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, and another officer make up the JIT, which is headed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing additional director general.
The JIT has been assigned the responsibility of investigating the campaign’s origins and motivations, as stated in a Tuesday notification issued by the Ministry of Interior under Section 30 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
According to the report, the JIT’s mandate is to investigate the vicious social media campaign that sought to tarnish the reputation of the Supreme Court’s honourable judges, find those responsible, prosecute them in line with applicable laws, have their challans presented in the appropriate courts, and suggest ways to prevent similar incidents in the future.
At a previous press conference, representatives from the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Pakistan Bar Council, and other organisations condemned the campaign’s criticism of institutions and judges and called for action against those responsible.
Related reading: The rise of pressure tactics: why the court is being routinely targeted
According to Rashid, the so-called intra-party elections were held in a village by the PTI. “The Supreme Court’s ruling on the PTI’s election symbol is legally and constitutionally sound.”
Judges and “the way of criticising the institutions and judges” are the targets of Shaukat’s vehement condemnation.
Hasan Raza Pasha, chair of the PBC’s executive committee, stated that the bat emblem should have been given out morally, but that the PTI did not hold the intra-party elections properly. He urged the FIA to look into the campaign against Pakistan’s top justice.
Rashid, vice chair of the PBC, stated that the court hearings showed everything about the PTI’s handling of the intra-party elections.
When a decision is made against the will, the judiciary is targeted, according to the SCBA president. It is unacceptable to launch an attack on the judges. In solidarity with the Pakistan Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association is present. There has been a social media campaign that is disparaging the judiciary; institutions should investigate.
According to Pasha, the Lahore High Court was unaware that the matter was pending. The moral decision was to award the bat’s mark. There were no legitimate intra-party elections.
“An officer of the court should use caution when expressing themselves.”
He urged the PTI and the FIA to punish the individuals responsible for the campaign against Pakistan’s chief judge, saying that the legal community will not stand for such an anti-judiciary effort.
According to Qalb-e-Hassan, the former chair of the PBC, the Supreme Court did not make its announcement while seated in the chamber. He went on to say that the whole country watched the court processes unfold live before the verdict was handed down.
