Islamabad: A Pakistani antiterrorism court based in Rawalpindi near here on Monday reportedly sentenced a religious party activist to six-month jail for making hate speech, as part of a crackdown after last year’s deadly Peshawar school attack.
Pakistan has taken action this year as part of its grand National Action Plan to counter terrorism after a Taliban attack killed 153 people — mostly children — at the Peshawar school.
Mufti Tanveer, former head of Rawalpindi chapter of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), was arrested earlier this year by the Counter-Terrorism Department and indicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
ASWJ is considered the political face of extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has been blamed for numerous attacks.
ASJW was officially banned in 2012 but had previously been allowed to operate freely, holding rallies and gatherings across the country.
Besides the prison term, the court also ordered the convict to pay Rs50,000 (Dh1,755) fine.
Curbing the spread hate literature and propagation of sectarian hatred is part of a National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism launched early this year.
Authorities had also been accused of quietly tolerating LeJ until July, when the organisation’s leadership was wiped out in a battle with police in the eastern city of Lahore.
