ISLAMABAD: A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to identify those behind posts depicting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan as Lord Shiva.

Meeting on Friday with MNA Shahzadi Umerzadi Tiwana in the chair, the subcommittee directed the committee to track down those who posted the picture on social media.

Talking to Dawn, MNA Ramesh Lal said he also met with FIA officials in the evening on the orders of the committee. He said Lord Shiva is a Hindu god and to show him as a politician is blasphemy.

The issue was referred to the sub-committee my the main committee to examine the complaints made by MNAs Ramesh Lal and Lal Chand Malhi, who said the picture has hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.

The committee also directed the FIA and other concerned departments to make an agreement with relevant departments in the US who control social media organisations so that Pakistani authorities can get details about users in such cases.

During the last meeting, FIA’s Capt Shoaib said that 17 accounts were identified which had posted the picture. Of these, 15 were of users based in India and two were from Pakistan. The users from Pakistan had deleted their posts.

Mr Shoaib said a request had been forwarded to the US Webmaster for information about the user who had first uploaded the picture.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2018