A notification from FIA Director (cybercrime wing) announced the suspension of Assistant Director FIA cybercrime wing Muhammad Asif Iqbal. “Service of Muhammad Asif Iqbal, assistant director investigator (BPS-17) cybercrime is hereby placed under suspension with immediate effect”. The notification came without any warning or show cause notice. However, the reason behind the officer’s suspension was still unclear. Muhammad Asif Farooqi recently booked singer Meesha Shafi and eight others for a defamation case against Ali Zafar.
Muhammad Asif Iqbal used his social media to share informative content about different cybercrime laws and punishments. He got a suspension on the basis of his tweet that mentioned Section 20 of Prevention of Electronic Media Crimes Act 2016. He tweeted “Whoever publicly spreads false information that harms the reputation of a person, is [committing] a crime U/S 20 of Cybercrime Act”. The daughters of a minister shared it, who called the officer “Ali Zafar’s spokesperson”.
Sources said that some “powerful person” in Islamabad forced the authorities to get Asif Iqbal suspended.
However, the Cyber Crime Wing FIA denied these reports. He stated that the officer has been suspended as he was “Acting as the spokesperson of Cyber Crime Wing on his own without permission. It is against disciplinary rules.”
Muhammad Asif Iqbal has not only been trying to create cybercrime law awareness on social media but has also worked actively to solve a child pornography case. He recovered more than 650000 pictures and videos.