PPP HR Cell concerned over reports of ensnaring innocent citizens in false cases

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: The human rights cell of the PPP said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned over reports that some unscrupulous elements ensnare unsuspecting innocent citizens in fabricated blasphemy cases for extortion.

According to the reports offensive imagery overlaid with religious texts is disseminated through social media platforms by hacking citizens’ mobile devices and other unethical means and then using it as pretext to register false cases in collusion with unscrupulous elements in the law enforcing agencies.

In a statement the president of the human rights cell ex-senator Farhatullah Babar said that the issue was first reported by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) in its report documenting its investigation into Blasphemy cases during the year October 2023 to October 2024. It said that young men were entrapped through female operatives behind pseudonyms to lure them in unethical online engagement and then filing cases against them. The report not only pointed out “disregard of due process” but also said that “arrests were often carried out by private individuals rather than law enforcement”

Last year also a special report by the Additional Inspector General Police, Special Branch Punjab, Lahore, had acknowledged the existence of a suspicious gang trapping youth for, he said.

Farhatullah Babar said even higher officers of the FIA had also acknowledged the existence of such a racket. An office order by the cybercrime wing circulated among all officers acknowledging that some officers had “knitted an unholy net in connivance with professional women to trap innocent citizens” warned of serious action against those involved. It also directed that “no raid will be conducted and no FIR will be registered without prior approval”, he said.

He said that the organized nature of this network was demonstrated recently when a hateful defamatory campaign was launched on social media against Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro of SHC after the Judge granted post-arrest bail to some accused thus implicated in such false cases.

The Sindh Bar Council passed a Resolution last month denouncing the campaign against the judge and demanded a transparent and impartial investigation into the alleged collusion between FIA officials and criminal networks exploiting youth under false allegations. The resolution said “no one should be above the law, including groups exploiting religious sentiments for personal or financial gain” and called for a “transparent, swift and impartial investigation into false allegations of blasphemy”.

Farhatullah Babar urged all political parties, the parliament, the law enforcing agencies, the religious scholars, the human rights bodies and the bar and the media to take these alarming reports seriously and not sweep them under the rug. Recalling that the Senate Human Rights Committee in March 2018 had also made some recommendations in this regard which were endorsed by the Senate he also called for the implementation of its report.