KARACHI: Sindh is among the four provinces of the country which have received the directive from Islamabad that they strengthen legislation on hate speech and extremist material in their respective jurisdiction, it emerged on Monday,

Officials in the provincial home department said in the directive that the federal government had asked the provinces, apart from making laws to curb rampant hate speech and heaps of extremist material within their remit, to make sure that there was no abuse of the loudspeaker, which most extremists, posing as religious scholars, employed as an effective tool to brainwash young minds.

For this, they said, the West Pakistan Regulation and Control of Loudspeakers and Sound Amplifiers Ordinance, 1965, was being examined to use effectively or make drastic changes to complement existing circumstances. However, The Sindh Sound System Regulation Ordinance, 2015 has all the ingredients to conform to the given situations.

Take a look: Crime diary: Amplifier act helping police move against hate preachers

Officials said hate speech and extremist material consisting of videos, audio and printed literature would be checked and confiscated at ‘every level’ but did not elaborate it any further.

However, they said the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2014 and Public Safety Act, 1965, could help them to accomplish the task.

In addition to this, officials added, several other measures were in the pipeline to curb hate speech, which included regularisation and monitoring of printers and publishers.

Besides, they said, in line with the zero tolerance as shown by the government, they were contemplating monitoring the use of short messaging service (SMS), emails, websites and social media. The task has been given to the intelligence committee of the so-called Apex Committee, which has been tasked to design and oversee the ongoing targeted operations in the province.

The provincial government, however, said it had not been silent over the issue of hate material before the federal government’s directive and took action against certain individuals.

In its three-month report over the action taken against individuals for violating the loudspeaker act and spreading hate material, they have arrested 170 people from six districts of Sindh, with a majority of them detained from Karachi.

The report said a total of 363 cases were registered in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur and Larkana for violating the loudspeaker act and subsequently 149 accused were taken into custody. Most cases (140) were registered in Karachi where 67 people were arrested. Some 133 cases were registered in Hyderabad with 64 arrests while 68 cases were registered in Sukkur with a single arrest.

Also, the report said, 21 cases vis-à-vis possession and spread of hate material were registered and as many suspects were arrested from Karachi and Hyderabad. Some 13 of those cases were registered in Hyderabad with 16 arrests while eight cases were registered in Karachi and five people were taken into custody there.

Financing militancy

The Apex Committee, in the meantime, has decided to identify channels involved in the financing of “terrorist and terrorist organisations” and take strict action against them. For this, its execution committee has been tasked to share information or report ‘terrorism’ financing and money laundering with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Officials said the FIA and the SBP had been requested to investigate the accounts of ‘criminals’ involved in the last year’s attack on the Karachi airport in June.

Besides, officials have added, special cells for the purpose were being established by the inspector general of Sindh Police where the Ministry of Interior would be responsible for their capacity building.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2015

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