- Nisar wants to clamp down on social media anonymity
- Special Operating Procedure (SOP)’ for social media on cards
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that no restrictions have been placed on social media; however, anti-army content on social media will not be tolerated and violators would be dealt with iron hands.
Addressing a press conference, he said no restrictions are being placed on social media,” adding that a non-regulated social media is not permissible in any democratic country.
The minister said that he would request the Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq to take all the political parties on board so as to hammer out a mutually agreed ‘Special Operating Procedure (SOP)’ for social media.
As action under the cybercrime bill continues, he said that there has been no arrest and no ‘harassment’, and the people under interrogation are allowed to bring their lawyers along during the questioning.
Their devices would be checked forensically, he added.
The minister said as per law, no one can ridicule of the army and judiciary; however, for the last two weeks, posts mocking Pakistan Army have surfaced, which are not tolerable.
“After the ISPR tweet and its subsequent clarification, the reaction I saw on social media was a matter of concern for me,” he added.
“When the blasphemous material was uploaded on social media, I was directed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to look into this issue. I have been again given directions by the premier to look into the abuse of social media.”
So, the minister said he directed the FIA to take action against elements behind such posts, which questioned more people over anti-army posts.
Nisar said that he had given clear directions that indiscriminate action should be initiated against all those involved even if someone is from the PML-N.
“Twenty-seven IDs have been identified… eight people were identified who were running some of these accounts, of which six were interviewed and the rest are in the queue. There have been no arrests and no harassment,” he claimed.
“It is being made to seem that social media is under attack, but this is not the case; in fact, the Constitution, Pakistan, our institutions and the values of our country are under attack by a section of social media,” he claimed.
On threats over social mobilisation and street agitation against the government by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose activists have been detained, he said that PTI chairman should identify the social media activists of the ruling party, and an action would be taken against them.
The minister said that he was stepping up efforts to track internet users’ activities online and hunt down undesirable elements.
The interior minister said he wants to clamp down on online anonymity, saying that authorities had proposed that each person’s social media accounts be connected with their cell phone numbers by law.
Claiming that the Federal Investigation Agency’s crackdown on ‘blasphemous’ posts had resulted in a drastic decline in the offensive material being posted online, Nisar vowed to expand the fight to cover derogatory remarks against the state as well.
“We will move ahead despite the criticism. Those who want to create hurdles in the path of these reforms, keep at it. Do not threaten me. We will ensure the implementation of these changes at par with law and Constitution,” he said.
He said that every organisation has SOPs but social media has none, as anyone can make a fake ID with any name and then write anything he or she wants.
In view of this, regular meetings will be held with media bodies, monitoring would continue and SOPs will be formed accordingly.
The meeting’s agenda revolved around evolving a consensus policy to safeguard national security interests of Pakistan.