Pakistan

Islamabad police register case against owners of 'blasphemous' social media pages

FIR lodged after IHC ordered to implicate those running ‘blasphemous Facebook pages such as Bhensa, Mochi...

Arsalan Altaf March 09, 2017

PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: 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.

Copy of the FIR lodged against alleged blasphemers.

IHC orders removal of blasphemous content from social media

On March 7, the IHC 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”.

Place names of blasphemers on Exit Control List, IHC orders govt

The IHC 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.

COMMENTS (3)

Muzammil | 7 years ago | Reply Both blasphemous and extremist pages should be banned. They both are reactionary pages doing nothing good.

Nazarul Islam | 7 years ago | Reply The only solution is to localise the entire internet like China does if you want to control what people say or see on the internet. The sensible option would be to ignore this stuff, if a site annoys you, you can always block it. Many opponents of these targeted social media pages are on these pages all day reading every post and commenting their annoyance at every post. Isn't the right way is to not visit these pages if you find them so hurtful?

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Replying to X