LAHORE, Dec 11: Pakistani authorities have booked 150 suspects and arrested 22 of them, mostly belonging to Imran Khan’s party, for allegedly propagating against the army on social media on the killings of the party workers in Islamabad on November 26, an official said on Wednesday.
According to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), at least 12 party workers were killed and hundreds wounded when law enforcers opened fire on the protesters in Islamabad on November 26. It also claims that around 105 party workers have been missing since then.
Following the incident, Khan’s supporters started blaming the Pakistan Army for opening fire on the peaceful protesters.
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The Shehbaz Sharif-led government denied that the law enforcers opened fire on the protesters and pledged to take strict action against those propagating on social media.
The government formed a special task force headed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief to NAB such elements.
“Subsequently, the FIA cybercrime wing booked some 150 suspects and arrested 22 social media activists across the country,” an FIA officer said.
He said that the FIA made 117 raids, mostly in Punjab, to arrest the suspects involved in the propaganda against the state institutions.
The suspects (social media activists) have been booked under different sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
Earlier, Amnesty International had demanded a transparent investigation of the state’s deadly crackdown to disperse PTI supporters from Islamabad’s D-Chowk where they had gathered for the release of their incarcerated leader and former prime minister.
More than 10,000 protesters surged into Islamabad on Nov 26, defying a ban on public gatherings and a lockdown to skirmish with 20,000 security forces enlisted to turn them back. As Khan supporters inched towards the heavily barricaded D-Chowk, the police and security forces used intense teargas shelling to disperse the protesters.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said the law enforcers had bravely repulsed the protesters without using firearms. Khan’s party harshly criticised the interior minister for his statements and blamed him for the alleged violence against its supporters, claiming multiple deaths.
Condemning the violence, Amnesty demanded a “prompt, thorough, impartial, effective and transparent investigation” into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force, including lethal and less-lethal weapons, by security personnel. PTI
