ISLAMABAD – A picture of Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf (PTI) chairman ImranKhan depicted as a Hindu god has been doing the rounds on social media inwhat is also believed to be a concerted campaign against the oppositionparty.
The speaker issued the directives following a protest by Hindu legislatorswho said that their faith was being smeared in a wave of hate speechonline. The issue was raised as a point of order by Ramesh Lal whopresented an example of the blasphemous content — a picture of a Hindudeity with the PTI chairman’s face.
Such posts have deeply hurt the religious sentiments of more than fourmillion Hindus living in Pakistan. The MNA said that such offences werecovered by cyber laws and should not remain unpunished.
Demanding legal action against the perpetrators for posting blasphemouscontent, he asked the speaker to order an inquiry into the matter.
Another parliamentarian, Lal Chand Malhi, said there was evidence of amalicious online campaign targeting the minority community and desecratingimages that were revered by millions of Pakistani Hindus.
In response to the complaints, Speaker Sadiq directed Minister of State forInterior Tallal Chaudhry to complete the inquiry within seven days. He alsodirected the state minister to lodge a case against the culprits with theFederal Investigation Agency.
Later, Mr Lal, while speaking to Dawn, said that he and Mr Malhi hadprepared a complaint to be made the basis of the FIR which was to be handedover to Mr Chaudhry, but the state minister had left the house before thecomplaint could be finalised. “We will hand it over to the minister onThursday,” he said.
Mr Lal said the social media campaign against the Hindu community had beengiong on for two weeks.
Earlier in the house, PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his partyfully supported the Hindu community. He alleged that such content was beinggenerated by the social media wing of a political party.