LAHORE: A judicial magistrate has been passed to allow investigation authorities from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to scrutinize posts on social media that aim to defame the family or character of the Chief of Army Staff. An investigation officer will track down the pictures posted to disparage the family of the former Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani.
The post under question was a picture of General Kayani’s daughter claiming that she had married a US soldier. An application was submitted by the cyber crime cell of the FIA to carry out the investigation under Section 155 of the CrPC. This was reported on July 26 in 2018 when the post became viral on social media. This post was made on Facebook and the inquiry started in September 2018.
The concerned Facebook User was tracked down; social engineering and other tracking procedures were initiated to find that the account belonged to someone named Siddique Ahmed Butt, a resident of Lahore Cantt.
Siddique Ahmed was questioned on the matter and claimed to have “mistakenly” shared the post on Facebook. He acted as if it was an act of carelessness, and authorities immediately seized the relevant media they had of the General’s family.
The final verdict had claimed that Siddique Ahmed had intentionally uploaded derogatory content, spreading false news to the public.
