The interior ministry on Tuesday constituted a special joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the “malicious social media campaign and trolling” against Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

The notification from the interior ministry said the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime director would be the JIT’s convener and the panel would also comprise one officer each from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Islamabad police.

It added that the FIA’s headquarters would provide secretarial support to the team, which would submit a preliminary report to the ministry within 15 days.

While none of the authorities have identified any social media posts they deem to be part of the campaign, the law ministry has, reportedly, held the PTI responsible for it.

Justice Farooq, who had been hearing former premier Imran Khan’s appeal against a trial court’s decision that convicted the PTI chairman in the Toshakhana case, was recently accused by the former prime minister of trying to keep the petitioner behind bars to prevent him from contesting general elections.

Imran was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail on August 5 by a trial court in the case, but the IHC suspended his sentence today.

Imran had also filed a petition before the Supreme Court, requesting the transfer of all his cases being adjudicated in the IHC to some provincial high courts.

Earlier, the Islam­abad High Court Bar Associ­ation also criticised the alleged campaign with the body’s president, Naveed Malik, saying in a statement on Sunday that the bar strongly condemned the “ongoing malicious campaign circulating on social media” against the IHC chief justice.

The statement did not mention anyone in particular as responsible for the reported campaign.