Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken ‘serious’ notice of a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior purporting action against members of a certain sect for remarks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ahead of the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit.
The development was announced by Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry. “PM Imran Khan has taken serious notice of the contents of notification purportedly issued by the Ministry of Interior referring to certain sects/classes, secretary interior has been directed to launch an inquiry to this effect immediately,” he said in a tweet.
It is pertinent to note that the portfolio of the interior ministry lies with the prime minister himself.
The notification claimed that a ‘targeted campaign’ had been launched to “to project a negative perception” about the high-profile visit. The ministry said it had analysed the matter and found that “dissidents/ disgruntled elements from ‘Shia community'” were mostly involved in the “nefarious activity to malign KSA.”
The ministry of interior has processed 19 Facebook pages and 20 Twitter URLs and forwarded the request to block to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). “Cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency and PTA shall ensure blocking/ tracking of accounts/ activists involved in the campaign,” the notification added.
The notification created outrage on social media as users condemned singling out a particular sect.
Published in Daily Times, February 18th 2019.
