Pakistan’s Intersys Limited sues OpIndia for defamation in Karachi Court over fentanyl exposé, ignoring jurisdiction rules while sitting on allegations of drug and visa fraud

Pakistan, a country that cannot feed its people without IMF loans. A country where tomatoes are luxury items. Still, its district court has the audacity to file defamation suits over drug exposés, that too on a news portal that does not even fall under its jurisdiction.

Welcome to Karachi’s new theatre – Civil Court edition

On 12th June, a tragicomedy of international proportions occurred. A district court in Karachi heard the petition of Intersys Limited, a Pakistani firm linked with names like eWorldTrade and associated networks reportedly indulging in everything from ghostwriting scams to smuggling opioids into the US. The case was filed against a bunch of foreign journalists, including investigative blogger Danny de Hek and wait for it, OpIndia!

Yes, you read that right. A company from the country whose dollar reserves fluctuate like teenage moods, and whose own agencies cannot get a grip on Rawalpindi, thinks it has the legal muscle to drag foreign platforms into its domestic courtroom drama.

The charges against OpIndia include hurting the reputation of a company allegedly involved in fentanyl trafficking. The district court in Karachi wholeheartedly believed that such a company has a reputation so sacred, even a sneeze in its direction must be punished.

Before suing, maybe check the map

Let’s talk about a tiny legal hiccup, which, actually, is a big one, that might have slipped the minds of our Pakistani plaintiff friends. The hiccup is what we call jurisdiction. For a civil court to entertain a defamation suit against individuals and organisations in Delhi, and the internet in general, it kind of needs the jurisdiction.

Karachi court thinks it can lecture and dictate to international media on libel law. However, it fails to stop clerics from issuing fatwas on television or stop mobs from going on rampant violence over dubious blasphemy charges. Forget New Delhi, these lower courts in Pakistan cannot even get an arrest warrant served without an army column.

Tomato prices through the roof, but filing fees no problem

The inflation in Pakistan is so high that a tomato is a status symbol. Wheat flour, electricity, clean water and basic amenities are no less than gold biscuits. However, Intersys apparently had no problem shelling out money to file a suit and hire two lawyers to claim that OpIndia and de Hek ruined their image. While electricity is missing from the courts, Pakistan wants to sue the internet!

Maybe it is high time someone reminded them that alleged criminal activities cannot be washed away by a civil suit in Karachi South Civil Court.

Defamation? That ship sailed with the DOJ

The company also forgot the fact that the US Department of Justice had already filed indictments against eWorldTrade over fentanyl trafficking. De Hek merely reported it and OpIndia did a follow-up based on his findings and other open sources available. If that is defamation, then every US court must be held guilty in the Karachi district court. What next? A defamation notice to the FBI?

‘Please do not hurt our feelings’

2nd Senior Civil Judge, Kaleemullah Kalwar of Karachi district court, in a poetic act of misplaced legal activism, issued an interim gag order asking all the defendants not to “publish, disseminate or distribute defamatory statements” until the next hearing. Basically, the court wanted to say, “Do not hurt our feelings by saying mean things about the fentanyl, please!” Thankfully, they did not add “maan jao na mele babu shona” in the end.

We would have laughed if it were not so painfully absurd. The only people disseminating damage here are the companies themselves, whose digital footprints lead to allegations of fraud, fake job listings, drug links and tax evasion.

Dear Pakistan, please stay in your limits

Let’s make one thing clear. Pakistan did not cry when companies registered in the country were busy exporting drugs, flooding the internet with scam websites, and abusing the US visa system with fake payroll schemes.

Before filing the defamation case against OpIndia and others, maybe Pakistan needs to start fixing its own backyard. Regulating IT exports should be the first thing to do. Maybe dismantle the scam factories in Karachi? In the end, the country needs to find a solution to bring the prices down of agricultural products, especially when India has put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. Only then should it talk about international laws and filing defamation suits against journalists from other countries.

Oh yes, dear brother Kaleemullah Kalwar, maybe you can use your stronghold on the “legal” side of Pakistan and get the potholes fixed. Meanwhile, please do not expect OpIndia to appear in your court on 14th July.

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