LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has observed on Friday that the government and PTA are ultimately responsible for the uploading of blasphemous caricatures on the internet.
The Lahore High Court has issued a detailed 12-page verdict of the case.
The court has said that a crisis cell should be formed to devise a strategy to stop access to blasphemous caricatures online.
Content which hurts the sentiments of the people should not be published and it should be stopped. Additionally, it is the duty of the government to file cases against those who publish blasphemous content on the internet, the verdict said.
The court was acting on a petition seeking a permanent ban on Facebook in Pakistan for allegedly hosting a contest called the 2nd Annual Draw Muhammad Day.
The petition was filed by Mohammad and Ahmad through Advocate Mohammad Azhar Siddique.
Siddique requested the court to direct the Civil Lines SHO to register a criminal case under Section 295-C against the perpetrators for organising the competition again.
The petitioner has named the federal government, the ministry of communication, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, and the Punjab government as respondents.
Facebook had earlier generated much controversy when a cartoonist, Molly Norris had announced a contest to sketch caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in May 2010. The sponsors had later apologised and cancelled the contest. However, the resultant uproar in Pakistan caused Facebook to be temporarily banned across the country in 2010.
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