CII chief says fatwa on VPN linked to its usage

The Islamic Ideology Council (CII) Chairman Allama Raghib Naeemi said on Monday that the council's recent ruling which declared the virtual private networks (VPNs) as un-Islamic was based on the misuse of the application for accessing unethical contents and giving statements against national security.

Naeemi had come under intense criticism for issuing such edict, last week. Prominent scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel said that if this rationale was accepted than the mobile phones could also be deemed harmful. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman urged the council to review its decision.