Mehwish Hayat’s lawyer has told a Karachi court that the FIA has not yet removed defamatory content from social media, nor has any action been taken about it.

On Friday, the FIA submitted a progress report to the Sindh High Court in the petitions of actors Kubra Khan and Mehwish Hayat who challenged defamatory content against them on social media.

The court said that the FIA is claiming that it is working.

The FIA informed the court that the matter has been referred to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which had to block all such accounts.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case for 4 weeks.

On January 26, the PTA, federal government and FIA submitted reports in the Sindh High Court in the case of social media accounts spreading defamatory content against four actors, including Kubra Khan and Mehwish Hayat, following claims made in a vlog by Adil Raja, a retired armyman and YouTuber.

Justice Naimatullah asked the investigating officer whether the defamatory content had been removed as instructed during the previous hearing. The IO said that the PTA has been asked to do it and it should be done soon.

The PTA said that objectionable content has been taken down and the authorities have been approached for the content that has to be removed from accounts active abroad.

The public prosecutor told the court that Mehwish Hayat’s statement has been recorded while Kubra Khan’s statement has yet to be taken.

How it began

Self-styled political expert Adil Raja, a former armyman, uploaded a video on New Year’s eve and claimed they belonged to actresses and models, suggesting they were used as ‘honey traps’ for high-ranking officers at intelligence safe houses that were bugged. The video made several explosive albeit unsubstantiated and unverified claims about the top leadership of the army, including suggestions of moral turpitude.

He shared four initials: MK, MH, SA, and KK or AK. There has been some confusion about whether the last set of initials is KK or AK but it has resulted in a strong reaction from the actors who share these initials.

Kubra, who is a British citizen, threatened to take Raja to court in the UK. Raja fled Pakistan last year, safely resurfacing in the UK shortly after claims that he had gone ‘missing’.

Social media users were quick to pounce on the four initials, with digital sleuths claiming that they belonged to top actors who had featured in ISPR productions or were considered pro-army.

On January 6,the Sindh court had ordered the FIA and PTA officials to have objectionable content relating to Kubra Khan removed from the internet.

The order came after the Sinf-e-Aahan actor filed a petition about the hate campaign against her on social media. Along with three other actors, she has been at the receiving end after Adil Raja made salacious claims about the former army and spy chiefs in connection with models and actors, while sharing their initials.

In her petition, the actor named as many as 27 social media accounts, which according to her carried the YouTube video.