Facebook page that stirred rage in Pakistan removed
SAN FRANCISCO:
A Facebook page that fueled rage and protest in Pakistan was gone from the popular online social networking service on Friday.
The Facebook user that organised an "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" competition to promote "freedom of expression" evidently took down the page along with a separate blog about the campaign.
"Facebook has not taken any action on this page," the California-based social networking titan said after reporting the page was gone.
The disappearance of the page came as protesters in Pakistan shouted "Death to Facebook," "Death to America" and burnt US flags, venting growing anger over "sacrilegious" caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on the Internet.
The "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" inspired by an American woman cartoonist sparked a major backlash in Pakistan which has a population of 170 million Muslims.
Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and the row has sparked comparison with protests across the Muslim world over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) banned access to Facebook, YouTube and more than 450 links, including restricted access to Wikipedia in view of what it called "growing sacrilegious content".
A Facebook page that fueled rage and protest in Pakistan was gone from the popular online social networking service on Friday.
The Facebook user that organised an "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" competition to promote "freedom of expression" evidently took down the page along with a separate blog about the campaign.
"Facebook has not taken any action on this page," the California-based social networking titan said after reporting the page was gone.
The disappearance of the page came as protesters in Pakistan shouted "Death to Facebook," "Death to America" and burnt US flags, venting growing anger over "sacrilegious" caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on the Internet.
The "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" inspired by an American woman cartoonist sparked a major backlash in Pakistan which has a population of 170 million Muslims.
Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and the row has sparked comparison with protests across the Muslim world over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) banned access to Facebook, YouTube and more than 450 links, including restricted access to Wikipedia in view of what it called "growing sacrilegious content".