A new low in Politics, Hindu community religious sentiments targeted for supporting PTI
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ISLAMABAD - A picture of Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan depicted as a Hindu god has been doing the rounds on social media in what is also believed to be a concerted campaign against the opposition party.
The speaker issued the directives following a protest by Hindu legislators who said that their faith was being smeared in a wave of hate speech online. The issue was raised as a point of order by Ramesh Lal who presented an example of the blasphemous content — a picture of a Hindu deity with the PTI chairman’s face.
Such posts have deeply hurt the religious sentiments of more than four million Hindus living in Pakistan. The MNA said that such offences were covered by cyber laws and should not remain unpunished.
Demanding legal action against the perpetrators for posting blasphemous content, he asked the speaker to order an inquiry into the matter.
Another parliamentarian, Lal Chand Malhi, said there was evidence of a malicious online campaign targeting the minority community and desecrating images that were revered by millions of Pakistani Hindus.
In response to the complaints, Speaker Sadiq directed Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry to complete the inquiry within seven days. He also directed the state minister to lodge a case against the culprits with the Federal Investigation Agency.
Later, Mr Lal, while speaking to Dawn, said that he and Mr Malhi had prepared a complaint to be made the basis of the FIR which was to be handed over to Mr Chaudhry, but the state minister had left the house before the complaint could be finalised. “We will hand it over to the minister on Thursday,” he said.
Mr Lal said the social media campaign against the Hindu community had been giong on for two weeks.
Earlier in the house, PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party fully supported the Hindu community. He alleged that such content was being generated by the social media wing of a political party.