February 02, 2025
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD
The formation of an inquiry commission has been advised by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to investigate the allegations of the misuse of blasphemy laws by a group of clerics, allegedly in connivance with officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
A single-member bench of Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan, in its order, stated that constituting a commission is the discretion of the federal government. However, since the government had sought the court’s guidance, the court later proposed a four-member commission.
“Comprising of a retired judge of the High Court or the Supreme Court, a retired senior officer of the FIA, an enlightened and religious scholar who has known and has done works of public good, and a senior expert of information technology whose presence on the commission will greatly assist the commission members in what is a technologically complicated chain that the commission will have to understand,” the order said.
The court directed the Cabinet Secretary to ensure that the summary is duly placed before the cabinet for consideration and that the cabinet’s decision is submitted by the Additional Attorney General before the next hearing.
The IHC issued the order in response to petitions from families of over 100 young individuals booked by the FIA under blasphemy charges for allegedly sharing blasphemous content online. The petitioners claimed that a gang, which they referred to as Blasphemy Business, had honey-trapped their loved ones into sharing such material. They urged the court to establish a commission to investigate the allegations and assess the legitimacy of the FIRs registered by the FIA.
The petitioners based their plea on reports by the Punjab Police Special Branch and the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR).
A Special Branch report dated January 24, 2024, revealed that a suspicious gang was trapping young people in blasphemy cases and extorting money in collusion with some FIA officials. The report recommended that a probe be launched to “dig out discreet activities of the gang.”
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) acknowledged these tactics in its report, stating, “Young men were targeted using female operatives under pseudonyms, entrapping them in blasphemous activities online, which led to their arrests.”
The NCHR report further highlighted procedural violations, noting that “arrests were often carried out by private individuals rather than law enforcement, and there were disturbing reports of torture during and after apprehension. Detainees’ written statements were frequently obtained under duress, compromising their legitimacy.”
While discussing the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the proposed commission, the court suggested that the TORs could be framed based on the reports annexed with the petition and any additional evidence produced before the commission.
“The commission is to conclude whether there have been specific instances of abuse of the blasphemy laws by filing false complaints and to the extent possible to identify the means and methods by which such abuse was carried out for false implications and to the extent possible to identify the perpetrators,” the order read.
The court also noted that another suggested TOR could be for the commission to consider whether there is an organized method of funding the increasing online blasphemy trend, possibly by foreign elements.
“This final TOR has been added on the request of Hafiz Mazhar Javed, Adil Aziz Qazi and Qamar Niazi, Advocates on which they said thank you,” the order stated.
The order further said that the commission’s hearings ought to be in public view, except where the commission considers matters of such high sensitivity—for instance, when it is viewing odious blasphemous pictures—that it may exclude the public from the hearings.
“The commission may also co-opt the investigating officers to carry out various inquiries into subsidiary issues as and when they arise before the commission,” it added.
The court also encouraged the complainants of the FIRs and members of religious groups who consider themselves flag-bearers in the fight against online blasphemy to be part of the commission’s proceedings, emphasizing that they are not against any individual but are seeking to reveal the truth.
“If they are going to oppose this exercise, they will weaken because then they will ever be mixed up and treated in the same breath as those abusing the blasphemy laws are. They must come forward and wholeheartedly support the proceedings of the commission. Anyone opposing the proceedings of the commission unnecessarily gives rise to doubts and suspicions as to their true motivations. They must ensure that they do not end up supporting those suspicions,” the order said.