PM Imran takes notice of action against ‘sectarian’ groups ahead of Saudi visit

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday took notice of orders issued by the Interior Ministry regarding the tracking and ‘sensitisation’ of a quintet of Shia organisations that are suspected of running a social media campaign against the visit of the Saudi delegation to Pakistan.

The communique, a copy of which made the rounds on social media on Friday, was purportedly sent by the ministry to all provincial chief secretaries, inspectors general of police, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

It singled out Tameer-i-Watan, Imamia Students Organisa­tion Talibaat, Karachi, Imamia Students Organisa­tion, Peshawar, Tehre­ek-i-Hamayat-i-Mazlu­meen-i-Jahan-i-Pakistan and Shia Wahdat News, and directed the PTA and the cybercrime wing of the FIA to track their activists and block their social media accounts.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, however, announced on Twitter that the prime minister “has taken serious notice of the contents of notification purportedly issued by Ministry of Interior referring to certain sects/classes [and] secretary interior has been directed to launch an inquiry to this effect immediately”.The aforementioned communication, which has the words “for eyes only” mentioned at the bottom, was neither confirmed not denied by a senior official of the Interior Ministry on Friday.