Youngsters mostly trapped by a blasphemy business group into sharing blasphemous content

70% Young boys and girls are in their twenties or even younger. 100% victims belong poor or lower middle class families. 99.99% are Muslims. 80% cases registered in 2022 onward.

Victims include software engineers, civil, electrical, mechanical and chemical engineers, masters and bachelor degree holders

Special Branch has reported about the blasphemy business group but no action was ever taken

There are 57 Muslim countries in the world. Pakistan is the only Muslim country prosecuting hundreds of it’s youngsters under blasphemy charges mostly punishable by death

My name is Sarfaraz (name changed) a B.Com student at Punjab University with a deep interest in poetry. I joined a poetry group on WhatsApp where, one day, someone shared a blasphemous picture that deeply disturbed me. I reached out to the group admin, Eman, who claimed she hadn’t seen any such content and asked me to send her the pictures I was referring to. After I did, she apologized and assured me she would remove the offender and any such content from the group.

Eman then inquired about my life, and I shared that I came from a low-income family and was searching for work. She offered to help me find a job in Islamabad and invited me to visit her. I planned a trip to Islamabad and arrived at a lawyer’s office where Eman had asked me to come.

Upon my arrival, Eman appeared with 8-10 men who told her, “Mam, your work is done; we will handle it from here.” They proceeded to torture me physically, accusing me of creating blasphemous content. Their leader, Rao Abdur Raheem, seized my phone and, despite my denials, continued to assault me while showing me the picture I had sent to Eman. I explained that I was neither the creator nor the original sender, but they threatened to harm me and my family if I did not confess.

Then they took me to the FIA office, where an FIR had already been filed against me prior to my arrival. At the FIA office, I was subjected to further torture. My father was summoned and pressured to disown me, and I was informed that I was charged under the most serious criminal offences in Pakistan: Sections 295 A/B/C and 11 of PECA 2016.

[ Story of ****, FIR no 138/23, Adyala final file prisoner no 130, stories document page no 35]

This is one of the many stories Fact Focus has come across during investigation of this issue.

Pakistan is prosecuting over 400 young boys and girls under the country’s blasphemy laws, which in majority of the cases are punishable by the death penalty.

Evidence shows that in most cases, young girls and boys and some middle aged victims were trapped into sharing blasphemous content online by a religious extremist group that, according to a government’s own report, is operating a ‘Blasphemy Business’.

Most of these cases, investigated and prosecuted by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), are reported by members of religious extremist group, that trap people into sharing blasphemous content and then report them to the FIA.

Blasphemy charges in Pakistan carry severe punishments including death sentence and life imprisonment. In many instances, even mere accusation of blasphemy places the accused at risk of getting killed and lynched. Most of these young individuals have now been imprisoned for over a year.

These imprisoned youngsters facing blasphemy charges include professionals such as software engineers, electrical, mechanical, civil, and chemical engineers, as well as agriculture graduates, holders of master’s degrees, Hafiz-e-Quran, and many individuals with less formal education.

More than 80% of these cases were registered in 2022 and 2023, and this trend continues into 2024. Fact Focus investigations reveal that all the victims belong to poor or lower middle class families.

With each passing day, both lower and higher courts seem to be under increasing pressure from religious extremists, further sealing the fate of the young victims imprisoned across the country. In the past, these laws were mostly used against religious minority groups but more than 99% of these new victims are Muslim youngsters and middle aged individuals.

There are 144 captives in Adyala Jail Rawalpindi, 130 in Camp Jail Lahore, 30 in Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore, 50 in Karachi central jail. There are more captives in some other prisons. The total figure of prisoners in the all prisons of the country is higher but exact figures cannot be verified. Around 70% of victims are in their twenties or are even younger.

A report by Punjab Police’s Special Branch thoroughly investigated and summarized the activities of the “Blasphemy Business” group, which targets and traps youngsters. The report established a connection between women used to ensnare these youngsters and members of this blasphemy gang. This gang continues to operate freely, allegedly in collusion with members of the FIA Cyber Crimes Wing.
Special Branch of Punjab Police is regarded as the premier ground intelligence-gathering organization in the country. In fact, more than 80% of the ISI’s reports about Punjab are primarily based on the groundwork conducted by the Special Branch.

The FIA confirmed to Fact Focus that it received the report on the “blasphemy business group” from the Special Branch of Punjab Police in January 2024. However, officials acknowledged that no action has been taken based on the report’s recommendations.

Ahmad Ishaq Jehangir, director general FIA was approached by Fact Focus at his office number in Islamabad and his staff was informed about the issue and the questions. No response was provided to Fact Focus.

Similarities in blasphemy cases

A similar pattern was observed in the FIR registrations for complaints with the FIA Cyber Crimes Wing. In most blasphemy cases, the complainants are the same individuals, who are members of the blasphemy business group. Many of these group members serve as complainants in cases involving six to fifteen different people.

Members of the blasphemy business group, such as Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, Shehzad Khan, Umar Nawaz, Hafiz Liaqat Manzoor Kamboh, and Amir Zafar, Hasnat Farooq are prolific complainants in blasphemy cases. Specifically, Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi has filed complaints against sixteen individuals, Shehzad Khan against twelve, Umar Nawaz against nine, Hafiz Liaqat Manzoor Kamboh against eight, and Amir Zafar against five.

In addition to the complainants being the same, the complaints, the body of the applications to lodge complaints, their nature, and the style of allegations are also identical in most of the cases. FIRs registered based on these complaints are almost uniform.

Another common theme observed in Lahore cases is the involvement of a “secret informant” who contacts the FIA Cyber Crimes Wing team after a complaint is lodged just before the registration of the FIR. This informant provides precise details about the accused, including their location in the city at a specific time, descriptions such as the color of their clothes to facilitate the arrest. (Some specimens of FIRs are given below.)

An image of three different FIRs to show same text, same pattern, same strategy to arrest, FIR – 1.

Furthermore, investigations are conducted in a uniform manner. In most cases, the witnesses are the same FIA officials, making the entire process appear highly dubious.

Upon reviewing the entire process and analyzing the case records, it’s evident that some private individuals and certain officials within the FIA Cyber Crimes Wing are rushing to register as many cases as possible. It appears FIA Cyber Crimes Wing officials aim to meet a target or achieve a specific number of blasphemy FIRs each month. This is being done without proper verification of the complaints and without considering the motives of the accused youngsters, despite the life-threatening nature of such accusations in a society like Pakistan. Fact Focus has confirmed through officials, when families of victims presented evidence to the Cyber Crimes Wing about the Rao Abdul Raheem Group and the girls used to trap young boys, FIA officials ignored this information for unknown reasons.

The Blasphemy Business Group

The Blasphemy Business group comprises religious extremist individuals who, according to a government report, use blasphemy laws for personal financial gains.This group is led by one Rao Abdul Raheem, a lawyer and one Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi, an blasphemy activist. There are many members of this group now. Following is a brief introduction of a few active members.

Rao Abdul Rahim

Rao hails from Chak No 331 EB, Burewala area of district Vehari in South Punjab. Documented evidence reveals that Rao initially struggled in his legal career and faced significant financial hardships for a long time. Eventually, he began filing frivolous blasphemy complaints, particularly against famous personalities, to gain attention and traction. Rao is in the business since as early as 2012.

Now he is based in Islamabad and is a lawyer of complaints in several blasphemy cases and heads forums namely “Namoos-e-Risalat Lawyers Forum” and “Legal Commission on Blasphemy”. He uses WhatsApp with a cell number registered in Spain. Rao’s role was highlighted by international media, including Al Jazeera, in 2012 when he accused a minor Christian girl of blasphemy. At present, he is a complainant in two blasphemy cases, and during the cross-examination in one of the cases, he admitted before the court that he uses the Spain number. This Spain number is also used by administrators of various social media groups, including WhatsApp groups and Facebook groups. According to case records, these groups were used to trap boys and girls, and notably, blasphemy incidents also occurred within these groups.

While giving his response to Fact Focus questions Rao Abdul Raheem was of the view that those who commit blasphemy must be punished and all those who are under arrest are blasphemers. “If any part of the body is affected by cancer, that part is cut. There is no other solution,” Rao said while responding to a question about extremely harsh punishment and the possibility of unintentional mistake by some of the accused persons.

Rao denied working in collaboration with the FIA. He also denied ever being part of any arrests made by the FIA. However, technical evidence and CCTV footage establish beyond a doubt that the FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing and the blasphemy business group work in connivance with each other.

Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi

Shiraz is a top leader and a core team member of the blasphemy business group and resides in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. He administers several social media groups and is a complainant in multiple cases.

Shehzad Khan S/o Zarshad Khan

Shehzad is one of Rao Abdul Raheem’s closest associates. He maintains contact with other group members and the girls involved in trapping victims.

An official investigation that reviewed his bank account statements revealed that he distributes money to other members of the group and new complainants. Using his bank account, he also made payments to the international VOIP company DellMont. This service is used to make internet-based telephone calls without revealing the caller’s identity. It is currently under investigation whether Shehzad and the blasphemy business group used this service to make calls to their victims. Additionally, Shehzad drafts applications for lodging initial complaints. In various official documents, he has provided two different addresses: one in Charsada and the other in Islamabad.

When Rao Abdul Raheem was asked about the bank statements showing payments from Shehzad Khan’s account to various members of his group and new blasphemy case complainants, he claimed to be unaware of any such transactions. Rao also denied any knowledge of payments made to Dellmont for making anonymous internet calls to people.

Hasnat Farooq S/o Muhammad Farooq

Hasnat Farooq came into limelight when he accused a girl named Aniqa Attique of blasphemy who he was previously friends with. Aniqa claimed that she wanted to end her relationship with Hasnat, which led him to accuse her of blasphemy. Later, he became a complainant against her, alleging that she had committed blasphemy while communicating with him. Imran Khalil, another member of the Rao group, was Hasnat’s lawyer in this case. Aniqa has since been sentenced to death.

Hasnat began his involvement with the blasphemy business group through the case against Aniqa. He is now a complainant in two other cases against different individuals.

Ghazanfar Ali

Ghazanfar used to work as a driver for Rao Abdul Raheem. He is also a complainant in blasphemy cases. Official records show four different addresses associated with him: two in Hyderabad, Sindh, and Noshehro Feroz, Sindh. In a blasphemy case registered in Rawalpindi, he became a complainant by providing an address in Pir Wadahi, Rawalpindi. In another case in Islamabad, he claimed to reside in Sector G-8/1 of Islamabad.

Hafiz Ihtesham Ahmad

Ihtesham is a known character in Islamabad because of his association with the Lal Masjid. He is an active member of this blasphemy business group.

Cases in Lahore

For registration of cases in Lahore, this group operates with the help of Hassan Muavia and one Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhary. Hassan Muavia is the younger brother of famous religious personality Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi. Ghulam Mustafa heads a forum “Khatam un Nabuwat Lawyers Forum”.

Trapping Process / Methods

Members of blasphemy business group are deploying different trapping methods using Facebook and WhatsApp. A virtual number from Spain is used to receive OTPs for creating various Facebook IDs and WhatsApp groups. This is how admins avoided disclosing their Pakistani cell numbers, Rao Adbul Raheem admitted using a Spain number, during a court proceedings. Young boys and girls are encouraged to join these groups and sometimes connections are made directly with an individual through these Facebook IDs. Notable IDs that were used in this operation were named “Laiba Mazhabi King,”, “United Mazhabi Story” and “Azad Mazhabi Ilam” etc.

A girl using the name “Eman” operated some of these IDs for a long time. In some cases, she presented herself as a married woman whose husband was overseas and claimed to live alone in Islamabad. Facebook friendships with her transitioned to WhatsApp, followed by texting and finally voice and video calls. Eventually she would invite them to visit her in Islamabad either for a romantic connection or simply offering to arrange their interviews for Jobs in reputed companies. Some victims, having built trust through these video calls, would agree to share objectionable content online in a desire to meet her. In most cases, victims never saw Eman in person.

In some cases, nude pictures with names of religious figures or Quranic verses written on them would be sent to the victim either directly or in a WhatsApp group. When the recipient discovered the inappropriate content and protested, the sender would deny having sent anything of the sort making some excuse and then the recipient would then be asked to show the content to the sender. To get to the bottom of the issue, the recipient would send the same picture back to the sender. At this point, the sender would block the recipient and disappear. After some time, the recipient would be arrested by a team from the Cyber Crimes Wing and would be accused of being the originator of the blasphemous content.

In other cases, after some time of friendship with Eman (or some other girl), there were direct demands to share blasphemous content. Certain WhatsApp groups were specifically designed for sharing pornography. There were escalating requests for specific categories of porn. This would follow requests of sharing pornographic content with religious themes. If someone refused, they would be coerced or pressured into complying.

It is evident through the trapping techniques of blasphemy business group, youngsters can be easily manipulated. However, the real culprits are those orchestrating these traps and creating such content. None of these individuals have ever been arrested by the FIA.

Once a youngster was trapped using any of these methods, a member of blasphemy business group would file a complaint using the material shared online and FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing would arrest the new target. This appears to be the sole objective of FIA’s collaboration with the blasphemy business group.

Connection between girls used to trap and the blasphemy business group

The girls who used to connect with youngsters on social media groups and later trap them into sharing blasphemous content were in contact with the blasphemy business group through Shehzad Khan. Shehzad Khan is a close associate and assistant of the group head Rao Abdul Raheem.

According to call records reviewed during an official investigation, Shehzad used his cell number 03165155*** to remain in contact with girl “Eman” who trapped dozens of individuals in blasphemy cases on her cell number 03136431***. In the records of the cellular company, the number in the use of Eman is registered in the name of one Khursheed Mai of Muzaffargarh. This communication between Rao’s right hand man Shehzad and Eman verifies the close working relationship between the gang members.
Rao and Eman are the main characters of this plot.

Rao in his response to Fact Focus said that Shehzad is a clerk in his office. He said he was unaware of any of contact with any girl like Eman.

Direct connection and joint actions by FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing and blasphemy business group

The blasphemy business group members and the FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wings in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi operate in connivance with each other. There are many instances to establish this fact. In case of FIR no 138/23, according to the written statement of the victim, he was abducted by Rao Abdul Raheem and his accomplices and was then taken to the FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing where the victim was formally arrested.

Similarly, in the case of FIR No. 85/2023, the accused first arrived at a location in Sector G-8 of Islamabad, used by Rao Abdul Raheem and his team members. The accused received a call from the girl “Eman” at 1:31:07 pm on July 22, 2023. She told the victim that her driver will pick him up. The driver (who in fact was the blasphemy business group member Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi) called the accused person at 10:42:56 pm using his cell number 0336-53**240 and took him to the location in Sector G-8. Analysis of mobile location history data by experts confirms the presence of the accused at this location on July 22, 2023 and July 23, 2023. July 23, 2023 was a Sunday. However, the complaint was filed on a Sunday and FIA formally arrested the accused on the same day. However, the location history data indicates that the mobile phone remained at the same location even after the arrest was made and the the accused taken to a different location. The blasphemy business group handed the mobile to the FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing later on. This technical evidence establish how closely the blasphemy business group and FIA’s Cyber Crimes Wing were operating.

In three different cases, the families of the victims state that when their family member was arrested and taken to the FIA office, Rao Abdul Raheem was already present there.

In its public announcements on X (formerly Twitter), the “blasphemy business group” claimed that it is working hard for regularization of several contract-based staff appointments in the “Cyber Crimes Wing of FIA.

In another case (FIR # 52/2024), a CCTV video evidence shows that Shehzad Khan, the closest associate of Rao Abdul Raheem, and a complainant in cases against multiple individuals,is himself arresting accused individuals along with the Cyber Crimes Wing of the FIA at a local petrol pump in Nankana Sahib (Punjab).

This evidence concludes the whole story of how the Blasphemy Business group is operating on the ground.

Rao Abdul Raheem told Fact Focus that he was totally unaware of any such incident and involvement of Shehzad with he FIA team to arrest any accused person in Nankana Sahab.

FIA Cyber Crimes Wing’s History of Corruption and Malpractice

Officials and Officers of FIAs Cyber Crime Wing have a history of malpractice and corruption using extortion and blackmail.

In 2019, Sajjad Mustafa Bajwa, Circle In-Charge issued a warning letter to all officers and officials not to engage in any illegal activities. The letter states that some officers and officials of FIA Cyber Crime Wing have knitted an unholy net in connivance with professional women to trap innocent citizens, followed by blackmail which was projecting a bad image for the FIA.

Sajjad Mustafa Bajwa, when approached by Fact Focus, confirmed writing this letter.

How blasphemy group pressurizes lower and higher courts

According to the family members of victims, various intimidation tactics are deployed during court proceedings of these cases to pressurize the judges, victim’s lawyers and family members.

During court sessions, complainants including members of a blasphemy business group and employees of FIA Cyber Crime Wing arrive together as large groups (8-12 individuals).

Some of them surround the court room from outside and loudly chant the slogan “Gustakh-e-Rasool ki ek Saza Sar, Tun se Juda” which can be translated as “Death to the blasphemer of Holy Prophet”. This is done at a time when nothing has been proved or established against the victim. This kind of atmosphere is extremely threatening for the judge given the history of judges getting targeted during the hearings of blasphemy cases. Not only judges but the lawyers of the blasphemy accused persons were targeted and killed.

The level of connivance between blasphemy business group and FIA Cyber Crime Wing is to the extent that sometimes FIA officials facilitated recording the conduct of Judges during the proceedings using a personal Video Camera. During one of the case proceedings in Lahore High Court, Contempt of Court notice was issued against one M. Iqbal, FIA Deputy Director Cyber Crime Wing for bringing unknown individuals with him to make the video of the judge and film the proceedings. Such a video of high court judges while conducting the proceedings can be later used to harass or intimidate him.

They also use tactics like waving large, printed copies of blasphemous content in the court, calling the victim’s lawyer a traitor to Islam. Sometimes they make open death threats to opposing lawyers and family members in presence of the judge. Usually, the judge would ignore such naked threats from a lawyer in an open court probably due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Special Branch report

On January 04, 2024, Zulfikar Hameed, Additional Inspector General of Police (Special Branch) Lahore forwarded a “Special Report” with the title “The Blasphemy Business” to the Chief Minister’s secretariat, Chief Secretary office, IG Police Office, Director FIA office Islamabad with diary number SR No 07/2024. The letter with the report reads, “Kindly find enclosed a Special Report “The Blasphemy Business” – A suspicious gang is trapping youth in Blasphemy cases and extorting money from them after approaching FIA in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. For perusal and further necessary action, please.”

Download the complete report from this link.

On January 09, 2024, Director FIA, Islamabad forwarded the same Special report to Chief of Staff to the DG FIA vide No. DIZ/S.O/Misc/2024/52. Similarly, on January 24, 2024, the admin office of the FIA Cyber Crimes Wing Lahore forwarded this Special Report to Additional Directors of Cyber Crimes Wings of Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The brief of the report (images of the complete report shown above) is that a gang is indulged in a blasphemy business and trapping youngsters. According to the report, Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi is head of this gang and Rao Abdul Rahim is a senior member of the gang.

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