ISLAMABAD: Little progress has been made in investigations into the activities of habitual child abuser Sohail Ayaz because the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has not yet been made a part of the process.

Ayaz was recently arrested in Rawalpindi by Punjab police upon a complaint filed by the mother of one of his victims; the first case against him was registered on Nov 12, while two more were registered on Nov 14 after more complainants approached police.

During police investigations, Ayaz admitted that he had targeted eight- to 15-year-old children and abused and filmed 30, uploading the footage online.

The matter was discussed by the Senate Standing Committee on IT & Tele­communi­cations during a meeting here on Monday, with the chairperson saying that money and mafia are also involved.

“The most serious issue is that senior officials of both the FIA and the Pakistan Telecommunica­tions Authority informed the committee in July that there was no child pornography ring operating in or originating from Pakistan,” said Senator Rubina Khalid, chairperson of the committee, while presenting the minutes of the previous meeting.

However, the committee was informed that the case has yet not been transferred to the FIA cybercrime wing, while the police investigation officer (IO) was not clearly aware of cybercrime.

Rawalpindi SSP Moham­mad Faisal said that the accused, aged 46, had a history of abusing boys; he had previously worked and travelled in nine countries.

“During investigations, Sohail Ayaz told the IO that he used the dark net to purchase drugs and share footage with like-minded people, but our IO asked him what the dark net was,” the SSP said.

Members of the committee asked FIA officials about progress in tracing details such as possible accomplices and a monetary aspect.

However, to the astonishment of the committee, the director of the FIA cybercrime wing, Mirwaiz Niaz, said that the agency was not yet involved and was cooperating with Punjab police on a voluntary basis; Punjab police would transfer the case after completing their investigation.

Members, including Sena­tor Rehman Malik, expressed the apprehension that there could be a chance of tampering with evidence, including Ayaz’s laptop and mobile phone files.

Eventually, the FIA director suggested that a joint investigation team be formed.

The committee was informed that Ayaz was awarded four years imprisonment in the UK; he later spent nine months behind bars in Italy and was deported from there in 2014. Later, he was deported from Turkey in 2017 based on his record [available to Turkish authorities under information-sharing agreements].

However, there was no record with the FIA to show that he was deported. Ayaz was hired by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as a consultant soon after his arrival in the country as a deportee.

The meeting was atten­ded by Senators Kalsoom Parveen, Dr Shehzad Waseem, Faisal Javed Khan, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Abdur Rehman Malik, Sana Jamali, Fida Muhammad and Hasil Bizenjo.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019