Man arrested from Banigala for ‘running anti-state campaign’ over Jaffar Express attack

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Circle on Monday arrested a suspect from Islamabad’s Banigala neighborhood for running an anti-state campaign on social media over the recent Jaffar Express train attack in Balochistan.

According to an FIA spokesperson, the suspect, identified as Haider Saeed, was arrested during a raid in Banigala for allegedly “sharing negative propaganda and derogatory content against state institutions during the Jaffar Express attack.”

The agency further cited his involvement in “supporting and promoting banned terrorist organisations on social media”, adding that the suspect was “not only running a poisonous campaign against state institutions but also kept sharing inflammatory statements and content in favour of terrorists”.

Authorities have seized the suspect’s social media accounts and digital evidence, and an investigation has been launched with a case been registered against him for making objectionable tweets.

The suspect was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah and FIA requested an eight-day physical remand. However, the court remanded him in the FIA’s custody for three days.

Moreover, the FIA also registered additional cases against other individuals, Ahmed Noorani, Shafiq Ahmad Advocate, and Aina Durkhanai, under the PECA Act for spreading fake news about the Jaffar Express attack.

The FIA is investigating further to identify additional accounts involved in spreading malicious propaganda with the move being part of an intensified effort by authorities to crack down on cybercrimes, the FIA spokesperson said.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carried out an attack on the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express by blowing up a train track and holding around 440 passengers hostage in more than a day-long standoff with security forces in a remote mountain pass on March 11.

On Wednesday evening, ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed that the operation had been concluded, with 33 terrorists killed.

The ISPR chief also said that 26 hostages, including 18 security personnel, lost their lives but no hostages were harmed during the final rescue phase. Five more security personnel were martyred during the operation.