ISLAMABAD: Interior Secretary Arif Khan argued in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday that shutting down social media such as Facebook is not the solution to blasphemy.
During the hearing of a case regarding blasphemous content on social media, the Interior Secretary said that as much as 85 percent of blasphemous content has been removed from social media.
“However, blocking Facebook is not the solution to blasphemy,” Arif Khan argued in the court.
He further said that three individuals have been arrested so far for allegedly posting blasphemous content on social media. Of these individuals, two have been found to be directly involved in this crime, the Secretary told the court.
The FIA on Friday arrested three individuals in connection with a case pertaining to publishing and circulating of blasphemous content on social media being heard by IHC. The three were presented before an anti-terrorism court and handed over to the FIA for a seven-day remand.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to take all possible measures to block blasphemous content on social media.
Terming ‘blasphemous’ content on social media as a “nefarious attempt to play with the emotions of the Muslim Ummah”, the Prime Minister instructed authorities to take effective measures to remove all blasphemous content from social media and prevent any such content from circulating on the digital space in future.
Facebook meanwhile has agreed to send a delegation for talks with Pakistani officials in this regard, the Interior Ministry informed, days after the government threatened to permanently block major social media websites if they refused to cooperate in removing blasphemous content.
