- FO to contact OIC, Rabita Alam-e-Islami to attend Friday session; Nisar says Islamabad to send strong message of 1.2bn population
Pakistan has invited ambassadors of Muslim countries for a meeting on Friday to formulate a common strategy against blasphemy especially on social media about revered personalities of Islam.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that when envoys from Muslim countries would sit together, it would send an effective message about sentiments of 1.2 billion Muslims.
With the approval of the prime minister, the interior minister had also approached the Foreign Office to contact the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Rabiṭa Alam-e-Islami for devising a common stance.
Nisar said that blasphemy was committed on social media about holy personalities of Islam. He warned of closing down social media and action against websites, if blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and holy personalities continued.
In light of the orders of the courts, the government would proactively pursue the matter of blasphemy, he said, adding that the Facebook administration had agreed to send its delegation to Pakistan to resolve the issue.
To a question, the minister criticised Sindh chief minister for issuing a statement in which he threatened to send federal officials out of his province. He said that the chief minister could not do it as it was not possible under the constitution and the law.
To a question about former Sindh minister Sharjeel Memon who was accused of corruption, Nisar said that the media should focus on those involved in corruption instead of airing statements of politicians blaming him for action against them.
SPOT FIXING: the interior minister told the journalists that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PBC) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would work together in investigation into involvement of Pakistani cricketers in spot fixing in matches. Both PCB and FIA would hold a meeting and decide how to proceed together on the matter of spot fixing.
He said a lot of false news continued to appear on media about the investigation in the matter. It was wrongly reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board and FIA were in conflict with each other, he said. He also said that it was not true that FIA had already determined the extent of the gambling and number of players involved in the crime.
He said that the forensic evidence for the FIA investigation was awaited. He said that he himself talked to (PCB Chairman) Najam Sethi twice and directed the PCB and FIA to act together. He said that he wanted to stop damage to the image of Pakistan caused by the spot fixing scandal, which was painful to the cricketers who made Pakistan proud with their accomplishments in the game.
The minister said that Pakistan faced many match fixing incidents in the past as well and in one such incident three Pakistani cricketers were sent to jail for involvement in the spot fixing. He said in the interest of justice, it was important that this matter should be taken to its logical conclusion as the persons involved in spot fixing brought bad name to Pakistan.
Nisar said that FIA which did not need to write or apply to anybody to initiate a probe would completely investigate the matter. He said that the high court had already directed on more than one occasion for inquiry into the matter. He said that the issue was not that easy to handle as bookies in an underworld were operating from places like India, England and Dubai. He said that the government would seek mutual legal assistance from other countries with an aim to root out the crime.
Also, the minister said that an incident came to his notice in which a group of lawyers beat up a police officer inside a court in Islamabad. Later, a delegation of police high ups met him and conveyed it would not be possible for them to provide security for the courts in Islamabad after this incident.
The issue started, when the policeman impounded motorcycle of a lawyer at night when he was driving without documents, Nisar said, adding that the police officers had great reservations as they felt humiliated because of torture of their colleague.
In the past, he said that the lawyers were involved in many incidents of abuse of judges, media persons and others. A committee had been formed to take up the matter with registrar of the Islamabad High Court, he said, and hoped that the issue would be resolved amicably. –OBAID ABBASI
