- FIR lodged against blasphemous pages
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has directed to devise a comprehensive strategy within three days to curb character assassination of judges and publication of hate content on social media.
The interior minister has asked interior ministry officials to prepare strategy within three days after consultation with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. He said that the new step should curb the publication of controversial content on social media and also ensure freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, the FIA has submitted a report to the interior minister about the publication of a fake picture of a senior official associated with the judiciary on social media. He expressed displeasure over non-provision of details of persons who shared the fake picture on social media.
Meanwhile, Islamabad Police on Thursday registered a case against unidentified persons involved in spreading blasphemous content on social media.
The FIR was lodged after Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the government to implicate those running “blasphemous Facebook pages such as Bhensa, Mochi and Roshni. “Sentiments of Muslims are being hurt by the content being shared on these pages,” the FIR read. The case has been registered under the country’s blasphemy laws, the report added.
On March 7, the court ordered Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to eliminate access to blasphemous content on social media, even if it means blocking all access to social media platforms. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, while ordering the interior minister to appear in person before the court in the case pertaining to blasphemous pages on social media, observed that he expected that the minister “take some steps in his own supervision to eliminate the evil, even at the cost of blocking the entirety social media.”
The judge also ordered placement of alleged Facebook pages owners’ names on the Exit Control List (ECL) so that they cannot escape the legal proceedings of the case. He compared blasphemers to terrorists, justifying the comparison by asking what else could be worse than such acts.
