The crackdown was conducted after viral fake photo of Prime Minister and new Chief Justice of Pakistan.
At least three bloggers have been asked by FIA Cyber Crime Wing Islamabad to present themselves before investigation officer for posting images of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif while wrongly attributing him as Justice Saqib Nisar.
Federal Investigation Agency came into action after the directives given by Interior Minister Pakistan Ch. Nisar Ali Khan. It has been reported that few blog posters were missing since Monday morning. After media sources disclosed that the missing bloggers claimed being arrested by FIA.
When the families of these bloggers were contacted, they were unaware of what happened to their children. However, when tried to get some updates from FIA, nothing has been said officially on the matter as of yet.
These part time bloggers, hailing from Multan, had posted images in question online and FIA was able to track them down through WHOIS information available on their website.
Reportedly, the arrested three bloggers were among those social activists who had shared the fake picture of Prime Minister and Chief Justice of Pakistan over different group over Whatsapp, Facebook or other social channels.
Earlier several other social activists had been arrested in past but the section of cybercrime bill that’s being investigated is still not determined, but from the looks, it appears that these bloggers might be charged with “Cyber Terrorism.”
Pakistan government had passed Cyber Bill from national assembly in mid of 2016, to keep check on social media websites. For implantation law enforcement agencies have started their work and several arrests have been made upon violating Cyber-Bill.
Section 7 of Cyber Crime Law deals with Cyber Terrorism and it says: “the use of threat is designed to coerce, intimidate, overawe or create a sense of fear, panic or insecurity in the government or the public or a section of the public or community or sector in the society”
It’s on very serious notice, if the arrested bloggers are proven guilty, they could face up to 14 years in prison or/and up to Rs 50 million in fine under the above mention section. It must be mentioned that there are more bloggers and a hosting provider who were also sent these notices but they are out of Pakistan as of now.