PTI leaders grilled on smear campaign
Senior PTI leaders including Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Raoof Hasan and Shah Farman on Friday appeared before a joint investigation team (JIT) recently formed to investigate a smear campaign launched on social media against state institutions allegedly by the PTI.
According to sources, the JIT interrogated the leaders for 1.5 hours, questioning them about PTI's social media handlers. The leaders were also shown all relevant social media posts
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and others were also questioned about party financing. Two PTI finance department members also appeared before the investigators.
Finance team submitted complete funding records to the JIT.
Later, during a telephonic conversation with Express News, Barrister Gohar said the party respects all institutions and does not want any rift with them.
In response to a question, he said he never posted anything against institutions from his account. Talking with reference to his appearance before the JIT, he said the team asked questions in a pleasant atmosphere and showed him some social media posts.
"The JIT's questions will be discussed within the party. We will also discuss social media queries with PTI founder Imran Khan," he added.
A day earlier, the JIT issued notices to senior PTI leaders and workers including Gohar, Salman Akram Raja, Raoof Hasan, Asad Qaiser, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Hammad Azhar, Aun Abbas, Aliya Hamza, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Kanwal Shauzab, Asif Rasheed, Muhammad Arshad, Sibghat Ullah Virak, Azhar Mashwani, Numan Afzal, Jibran Ilyas, Salman Raza Zaidi, Zulfi Bukhari, Musa Virk, Ali Hasnain and others.
According to the notices issued by the Islamabad IG's office, the federal government constituted the JIT under Section 30 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
The team, led by the Islamabad inspector general of police, is investigating whether the accused and their accomplices were involved in an organized effort to spread disorder in Pakistan through a malicious social media campaign.
The notices, sent to PTI leaders and workers separately, said, "There is sufficient material available with the JIT to suggest the involvement of those summoned or their close acquaintance with the matter under investigation".
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