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Sectarian leader jailed in Pakistan for making hate speech

An anti-terrorism court on Monday sentenced a former leader of a banned sectarian party to six months in jail for hate speech, part of a crackdown after last year's deadly Peshawar school attack.
Pakistan had previously tolerated many sectarian organisations, but has taken action this year as part of its grand National Action Plan to counter terrorism after a Taleban attack killed 153 people - mostly children - at the Peshawar school.
Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqi, a former leader in the sectarian organisation Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), was jailed for six months and fined Rs50,000 ($480) by the court in Rawalpindi, according to an official there.
Farooqi was arrested from Trami Chowk here in December with illegal weapons including 12-bore pump action shotgun, two 44-bore rifles, two 9mm pistols and bullets, a police official said. He was already wanted for making a hate speech.
Initially, police had charged him for violating section 144 which was imposed in the city at that time. But later government intervened and he was charged for possessing weapons and hate speech.
The development comes as part of Pakistan's National Action Plan to counter terrorism after the Taleban terrorists attacked a Peshawar school and killed 153 people, mostly children.
However, those found in possession of illegal weapons can be sent to jail for several years. - Agencies

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