LAHORE: Faisalabad Medical University (FMU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Zafar Chaudhry has approached the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to lodge a case against the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) president for allegedly launching a malicious campaign, in connivance with the leaders of the Young Doctors Association, against him and the varsity on social media, including foreign Whatsapp groups of the medical community.

It is the first such complaint lodged with the FIA against a head of the CPSP, the leading medical postgraduate institute established in 1962, having 14 regional centres across Pakistan.

In his complaint filed with the FIA’s cyber crime wing, Prof Chaudhry alleged that CPSP president Shoib Shafi uploaded misleading content on social media, generated and shared by the leaders of the Faisalabad chapter of YDA, during their recent strike against the Punjab government.

He said that the CPSP president allegedly shared the misleading information to tarnish his image in the eyes of the Punjab government and other relevant authorities.

CPSP also serves legal notice on the complainant

Mr Chaudhry, in his complaint said he had held meetings with the YDA leaders to convince them to end the province-wide strike, including in the OPDs of the three government hospitals attached with the FMU.

During these meetings, he said, the YDA members took his pictures when he was negotiating with the protesting young medics and shared the same on social media with misleading captions like “the FMU VC has joined the YDA strike against the Punjab government”.

In some of the pictures, he said, the YDA leaders showed him making victory sign with some members of the association.

Later, he said, the pictures were also shared on the official website of Allied Hospital Faisalabad YDA and other social media platforms to create an impression that the VC “protested” the Punjab government/police action against the senior medics of the Sahiwal Teaching Hospital.

He lamented that the YDA leaders, including its president Dr Aurangzeb, Dr Asad Mukhtar Gondal, Dr Mubashar Ali and other young medics also shared the same pictures in various Whatsapp groups of medical community in order to defame him as the head of the state-run medical varsity.

“As soon as the posts reached me, I immediately contacted the YDA men to remove the controversial and misleading posts from the social media but they started blackmailing me,” the FMU VC said.

Meanwhile, the FMU called a meeting of the Academic Council, and passed a resolution against the “malicious and illegal propaganda campaign” by the YDA to malign him and the varsity.

He told the FIA that he was shocked when the CPSP president also edited the contents and shared the same “obnoxious posts” in the WhatsApp groups of the medical communities in and outside the country.

The FMU resolution declared that the CPSP president, in connivance with the YDA members, “launched constant and frequent campaigns to tarnish his [ Prof Chaudhry’s] image”, defame him and the government medical university with a bad intention, asking the FIA to investigate the matter and lodge a case against them.

On the other hand, CPSP president Dr Shafi says the college has served a legal notice on the FMU VC for ‘defaming and dragging’ its president in a ‘forged case’.

A copy of the notice, shared with Dawn, reads: “In your complaint, you have accused our client of defaming you and [tarnishing] your reputation by sharing information through Whatsapp messages and have sought criminal and penal actions against our client for the same”.

It declares that the allegations levelled by FMU VC against Prof Shafi are not substantiated by any material, evidence, nor does his complaint account for the CPSP president’s constitutionally granted and protected freedom of expression, speech, and communication.

“You are put on notice that your actions of filing a complaint (with FIA) and deliberately directing, leaking or allowing a copy of the same to be widely shared across different mediums, including through Whatsapp groups, are in and of themselves mala fide, maliciously intended instances of defamation against our client”, the legal notice reads.

Through the notice, the FMU VC has been asked to withdraw “unsubstantiated” allegations against the CPSP president and also make an unconditional public apology for the same.

“We may be constrained to pursue appropriate legal remedies, including criminal, penal and civil actions for defamation amounting to Rs100,000,000,” reads the CPSP legal notice served on FMU VC Prof Zafar Chaudhry.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024