LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Tuesday allowed more time to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to complete its probe into uploading fake photos and videos of Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on social media.

Earlier, a federal law officer presented a report of the FIA showing progress in the investigation.

He told the court that five teams had been formed and arrest warrants for the suspects had also been issued. He said a raid was conducted at Faisalabad agricultural university and two others in Lahore. He stated that the investigation teams were working day and night, and a raid had also been conducted at KP House in Islamabad.

Bokhari’s lawyer said PTI’s activist Falak Javed was present at a rally in Islamabad, filming videos and posting them on X (formerly Twitter). He said if the FIA wanted to arrest her, they could have done so at the rally. The counsel stated that the PTI activist posted derogatory comments about the court’s proceedings on X.

Chief Justice Neelum observed, “Our society has this issue, our words reveal our level of education. We make videos about men and women we hate and this has become a tragedy for us.”

She said the people don’t investigate the truth or false and just start spreading the information of their choice.

The chief justice directed the FIA to complete its investigation and submit a report on Sept 18.

JOURNALIST: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Aalia Neelum on Tuesday summoned the FIA cybercrime director in a petition by a journalist challenging an inquiry allegedly initiated on a complaint by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) registrar.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Neelum observed that the FIA was misleading the IHC and the public. She asked an FIA official whether the IHC registrar sent any letter to conduct the inquiry.

The official responded in affirmation, however, could not present the letter to the court.

He said the FIA headquarters in Islamabad sent a letter to the Lahore office that led to the inquiry.

“Is this a joke?” the chief justice asked the FIA official with annoyance.

“First, you say the IHC registrar wrote a letter, and then you deny it. Do you speak like this before the courts?” the chief justice further asked the official, who tendered an apology for his conduct.

Petitioner-journalist Saeed Chaudhry and his counsel Hasnain Ali Ramzan were present in the court.

Chief Justice Neelum adjourned the hearing for Wednesday (today) and sought personal appearance of the FIA cybercrime wing director.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024