FIR registered against Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza under PECA, blasphemy law

JHELUM:  A case has been registered against religious scholar Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza in Jhelum, police confirmed on Tuesday.

According to officials, the FIR was lodged at the City Police Station on the complaint of a local citizen.

The scholar has been booked under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code.

It may be recalled that a day earlier, Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza was detained under 3-MPO (Maintenance of Public Order) and placed under house arrest at the district jail.

Section 3 of the MPO 1960, commonly known as 3-MPO, empowers the government to direct the arrest and detention of a person to prevent him from "acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order".

Read more: Eng Muhammad Ali Mirza receives flak for calling Imran Khan "Master of U-turn"

Police further stated that Mirza’s academy has been sealed to prevent any untoward incident, while a heavy contingent of law enforcement personnel has been deployed outside his residence and academy premises.

Mirza has at least 3.1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel with 2,400 videos.

In 2021, the cleric survived an assassination attempt and sustained injuries when he was stabbed with a knife by assailants during one of his weekly lectures.