PESHAWAR: Federal Investigation Agency's cyber crime wing Peshawar has arrested a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf social-media activist for allegedly posting a message against the judiciary on social-media website Twitter, sources in the federal agency confirmed Wednesday.
Qazi Jalal of the PTI has been charged under Sections 36 and 37 of the Pakistan Electronic Transactions Ordinance 2002 and has been remanded under FIA custody for two days.
On his Twitter profile, Jalal describes himself as a Hafiz-e-Quran and a social-media activist, who works for Insaf Radio.
The PTI has millions of followers on social media, a majority of which constitute millenials. The party and its followers were critical of the judiciary for not playing its part in checking what they referred to as rigging in the 2013 general election.
Later, the party's followers had also expressed resentment over the poll-inquiry judicial commission's findings, which had validated the 2013 polls, dismissing PTI's claims that the elections were not a true representation of the peoples' will.
Section 36 and 37 of Pakistan Electronic Transactions Ordinance 2002:
36. Violation of privacy of information —Any person who gains or attempts to gain access to any information system with or without intent to acquire the information contained therein or to gain knowledge of such information, whether or not he is aware of the nature or contents of such information, when he is not authorised to gain access, as aforesaid, shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance punishable with either description of a term not exceeding seven years, or fine which may extend to one million rupees, or with both.
37. Damage to information system, etc— (1) Any person who does or attempts to do any act with intent to alter, modify, delete, remove, generate, transmit or store any information through or in any information system knowingly that he is not authorised to do any of the foregoing, shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance.
(2) Any person who does or attempts to do any act with intent to impair the operation of, or prevent or hinder access to, any information contained in any information system, knowingly that he is not authorised to do any of the foregoing, shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance.
(3) The offences under sub-section (1) and (2) of this section will be punishable with either description of a term not exceeding seven years or fine which may extend to one million rupees, or with both.
