FIA to record statements of identified social media users

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed on Tuesday that the social media campaign against Justice Babar Sattar began on April 22, with 45 accounts on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube leading the campaign.

The court was told that out of the 39 X accounts used in the campaign, 29 were found to be fake, while the remaining 10 were identified. The court was also told that five accounts using different hashtags were identified.

The court directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to record statements of the identified persons, conduct an inquiry and continue the investigation based on the digital evidence. It said it would issue a written order to this effect.

A three-member larger bench of the IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan heard the contempt of court case relating to Justice Sattar and his family's data leak case.

Deputy Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Duggal told the court that the ISI's response was ready and would be submitted later today.

Duggal said a three-member FIA committee has been constituted. He said 51,000 accounts have been registered in the last three months and half of them have been verified.

Justice Khan asked why they started three months ago. Justice Kayani asked who was heading the committee. Duggal said the FIA ​​deputy director was heading the committee.

The court asked what was the response from X Corp. Duggal said X had asked to contact the US Embassy and had not responded to the High Court.

During the hearing, the report prepared by the FIA ​​Cyber ​​Crime Wing was presented to the court. Duggal told the court that the FIA ​​Immigration Wing would investigate the matter and that the FIA ​​did not have full access to the data.

According to him, the main problem for investigators is that people are running social media accounts from outside the country. He added that when a post from abroad is posted, they do not have access to their IP address. The hashtag used against Justice Sattar was also mentioned in the FIA ​​report.

The court directed the Cyber ​​Crime Section to contact the US Embassy. Duggal said the embassy could be contacted through the Ministry of External Affairs (MoFA). The court directed that the embassy be contacted through the proper procedure.

Duggal said he knew that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had spoken to many social media companies but no action was taken as the problem persisted. He said various organisations were being targeted but these companies were not granting them access to their accounts.

Justice Kayani said there were no offices of social media companies in Pakistan and there were offices of cybercrime agencies of other countries. Duggal said no company was willing to open its office in Pakistan.

He said the government and the PTA had discussions with social media companies but no solution was found and people knew who was doing what. He also said the government had asked platforms to remove accounts but it had a policy against it.

Responding to a question from Justice Kayani, Duggal said that these companies had not opened offices in Pakistan despite requests made to them. Justice Kayani said that this was happening due to the lack of legislation from our government.

The court said these companies have their own policies regarding cybersecurity laws and asked whether they have been contacted by Pakistan. If they pass laws after consulting these companies, they will set up offices here, the court said.

The FIA's cybercrime wing director said five X accounts using different hashtags have been identified, adding that one of them was created from the account of Khawaja Mohammad Yasin, a resident of Azad Kashmir, but he has not joined the investigation.

The court said the person was in Neelum Valley, hence his objection against Justice Sattar. FIA officials said Syed Faizan Rafi, a resident of Karachi, started another hashtag and in response to the notice sent to him, he said he was now abroad.

The FIA ​​said that summons were issued on June 29. The statement of the account holder Ismail sent to the FIA ​​was also read out in court. IHC Deputy Registrar Irfan Khan wrote to the Chief Legal Advisor of X Corp through MoFA regarding the leak of personal data of Justice Sattar and his family, requesting them to provide relevant information to Pakistani investigation agencies. The letter stated that it would be appreciated if X sends its representative to the IHC, adding that the personal data of IHC Judge Justice Sattar and his family has been leaked on X, whose administration should help identify the account that leaked it. The Registrar asked X Corp to inform them if there was any organised campaign and then also help them with their links. The letter also referred to the company's previous assistance to the British and Indian governments.