LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered the ministry of information technology to block access to all websites spreading religious hatred.
Justice Azmat Saeed, however, made it clear that no search engine, including Google, would be blocked. The court also directed the ministry to submit a compliance report in this regard by October 6.
The court issued the order after hearing a petition seeking a permanent ban on the American social networking website Facebook for allegedly hosting a competition featuring blasphemous caricatures.
Muhammad & Ahmad, a public interest litigation firm, filed the petition on behalf of Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique.
The petitioner said that Islamic values were being derogated in the name of freedom of information and consequently hurting the feelings of millions of Muslims. He added that despite the order of the court, the information technology ministry did not block websites spreading religious hatred. The petitioner requested that Facebook and all similar websites be permanently blocked in Pakistan for airing, placing, visualising blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
He submitted that in light of the competition, SHO Civil Lines Police Station should be directed to register a criminal case under Section 295-C and other relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code against the perpetrators. The petitioner added that the government should be directed to establish a permanent authority, having a legal status, which would monitor such objectionable activities across the world, to avoid the desecration of Islam.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2011.
Correction: The caption of this post earlier misstated the number of Facebook users in Pakistan. The correction has been made.
COMMENTS (101)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The FB ban is correct and it is step in the right direction. But please also ban Pakistani text books that spew venom on hindus and other minorities and brainwashes young impressionable minds with hatred for all other than muslims.
So if someone in US holds a contest - that is religious intolerance. What about if Alims spread hate speech against Ahamdis and call them wajib-ul-qatl on TV? Will TV be banned - or that is not considered religious intoerance?
What about LeJ leader openly distributing pamplets propagating the murder of Shias - which are not idle threats since there have been 2 incidents in recent past where dozens of Shias have been brutally massacred. Is this not religious intolerance?
this is just an another example of western extremism every now and then they allow to permote such content and later on same old apology which will happen this time to freedom of speech doesn't mean you start disrespecting the moral and ethical values,where does freedom of speech goes when they put you in jail in europe for tawking about holocaust for something that happend nearly 70 years ago?
@rikky: no,you are wrong
Facebook isn't respecting the religious issues in proper way, last time it did remove that competition page just like Zardari restored CH Iftekhar Chief justice after many long marchs. incase facebook gets banned in Pakistan here is a facebook alternative which offers many features like facebook as well as some unique features. www.chillhive.com A facebook Alternative. Please share this with your friends.
Only by commenting over here we cant stop them . we have to stand against LHC youth have to protest against such stupid Laws . if any1 have problem with FB must not use it why they support such bans. Those who are against it Like me should join hands and protest against LHC
I thinkthere should be total ban on those who are self proclaimed guardian of Islam . It is due to such people and institutions the much required renaiscese of Islam in 21st century as stated by Hina Rabbani will not take place .
LHC verdict is totally injustify. It is look like we are the only muslim country left in this world who have issues regarding the competition which was held last year and i think LHC is overreacting on it. i think we are the only country left who has to clean internet from blasphemous caricatures. why don't LHC give orders to information ministry to block porn and radical islamist websites. why don't they give orders to block those videos which extermist post on internet which showing slaughtering peoples.
@ sara, anthony and hassan. My dear fellows what have u said is your opinion. If a friend of mine have done this to me that insulting any beloved I would also have done the same forgive him. But if he does it again and again then atleast I would have quit talking to him neither just visiting him again and again Secondly this is a public forum whr evey one is allowed and have a right to share his views. So stop imposing ur views at others and try to be calm when u right. Thirdly majority of us are unaware of the teachings of islam so thete is no use to debate. May ALLAH guide all of us the right path and fill our hearts with HIS and muhammad (saww) love. Ameen
hi Dear Exress Tribune i have one but very important request to you , please inform s curt of pakistan or high curt of pakistan to stop or banne the nude and porn websites because our pakistan need (pak ) (good ) education but some of our leader get paid for those site what sites are destroying out youngster and you see the result on the Road of lahoor pakistan. zina under the protection of lahoor police department. as a pakistani i want pak pakisan, educated pakistan, and strong pakistan , i hope some one will read and think about it . thanks for reading. pakistan zindabad , paindabad. Aameen.
They will unlikely ban porn, as much as that should be a priority and help bandwidth issues across the country, the reason is obvious for depopulation
What next? they are gonna tap my blackberry messages...... wait?
Bold step indeed !
All sites related with blasphemous material should be banned with no discrimination of religon.( or atleast that particular page should be banned permenantly)
While as far as the Islam is considered, we should get united for the blocking of every website which is promoting anti Islam materials including Youtube, Facebook, flickir etc.
Despite all , consider the religious facts too.
We are Muslims and will not tolerate any dis respect to the Islam and Beloved Prophet Alehe salato wassalam.
@Omer Changezi: I am sure Mohammed the prophet has not preached such acts at all. This is called intolerance and hatred. Islam and Mohammed preach peace and forgiveness but not hatred enmity and massacre. If this is the rule of humanity and imagine the same reaction comes from other followers also what will be the outcome. If possible preach those ignorant the good you follow or else ignore them as insane individuals and keep harmony in the society. Just because someone writes bad about Mohammed in his blog does not bring down the value of Mohammed nor the Muslims will react to that and change their following Allah. If only the LHC has not reacted to the petition so badly this issue would not have been publicized so badly. The very basis for militant organizations is because they follow the rule of hatred enmity and killing. Instead of isolating a specific blog or page is it correct to deprive a few million Pakistanis from accessing FB. Just because Americans practice free sex can Pakistan deny aid from USA. Learn to embrace peace and try to educate those ignorant with substance. The meaning of Religion is to unite not separate.Learn the art of living Globally.
Websites and newspapers of the Pakistani secularist minority which regularly engage in disparagement of Islam and advocate violence against the Muslim majority should be banned as well.
The thing is that we are relying on facebook and other foreign social web sites too much. We have become so ADDICTED to them and DEPENDENT on them that even if these sites try to humiliate us or make us compromise on our values, we won't stop using them. We have stopped caring about our esteem because we are INDEBTED to them for letting us use their services. I think its time that we make and support our own social networking site. This will not only generate money for us but will also make us self-dependent.
I'm a webmaster, and i'm earning through facebook. I'm getting 70% visitors of my websites from facebook. After ban, what should i do? These judges and lawyers are destroying IT's future. And we'll protest against this terrorism against programmers, webmasters and all IT professionals.
Facebook is just a social network. They didn't think there are hundreds of companies of Pakistan which are participating in facebook ad campaign. What about that?
Ignorant judges and lawyers don't know even what is the social network. These ignorant souls are dancing everywhere in Pakistan.
Facebook is not responsible for this. The LHC should ban the groups that show this hatred, not Facebook. Facebook has approximately 500 million users. Perhaps only a hundred thousandth or a millionth of those saw these groups before the LHC began this thing. After reading all these articles, people began spreading the news about Facebook being banned, and everyone wanted to find out the reason. The LHC has not made people unable to see these sites, but they have told many, many, many more people about them. I'm sure that the number of people knowing about this group has gone up by around 1000% or 2000% after the LHC began this entire situation. Most people don't find out or care about these things. Just ignore it, it will go away. It isn't your issue, and you don't need to worry about it. You don't need to control what the people in Pakistan can see. Is anyone telling you to do this? Did anyone find this offensive besides you and make such a big deal about it? If you have a problem, don't make it a problem for a million other people. That isn't your job. Just don't make a bigger deal about this stuff. Facebook is a large part of our lives now. If you really find this offensive, then get off Facebook. This is your problem, and you deal with it. Don't fight it. Ignore it. Tell these people that you don't care. It's your issue. If you really think you're a good Muslim, then ban pornography. That's something your religion doesn't allow. But your religion hasn't told you to do anything if someone is against it.
Facebook became controversial and was condemned for not removing Draw Mohammad Day page from it’s server despite it was reported (as abuse) by hundreds of thousands of Muslim users. While on other hands Facebook tends to remove any anti-Jews or Anti-Israel page in only few minutes.
totally not agree woth it
@Moiz Sheikh:
Islam advocates forgiveness and it's importance. Even the forgiveness to a killer of your relatives.
I do believe forgiveness is looked upon in a good light compared to violence and revenge.
Please could Saad and Moiz reply to this - i want to read their intolerant and emotional response.
Its gr8 ! but nothing will be left on internet for youth........:(
and @malik...there R pictures of jesus christ, rama, krishna, buddha and what not. problem is WE r the only ones who take it as in insult!
Welldone LHC. May these FB junkies get their hands onto something useful...... Cant wait to see it blocked.
Welldone LHC. May these stupid FB users get their hands onto something useful.... I hate FB......
@saad:
"You’re at ur friends place in a gathering and ur friend insult ur father/mother or any of ur family member infront of everyone what will be ur reaction?"
Banning him from living in this earth? That means, I should go and kill him, right?
Is that the answer you are looking for ?
great question Saad i really asked that question before a year from that office's client .. he was seeing me like horrible uff. he was saying we must have to think about insulting about muhammad saww and others dont be too much emotional and bla bla bla... and i replied that question..... he hadnt any word to speak after that....
GUYS ANSWER THE SAAD'S QUESTION IF U THINK FACEBOOK SHOULD NOT BE BANNED... "You’re at ur friends place in a gathering and ur friend insult ur father/mother or any of ur family member infront of everyone what will be ur reaction? Looking for ur replies! :-)"
here is the translation of ahadees
tum main sey us waqt tak koi momin nahi ho sakta jab tak k main (Muhammad) tumharey liyeh tumhari aulad or walidain sey ziada mehboob na ho jaon"
@saad: You said "You’re at ur friends place in a gathering and ur friend insult ur father/mother or any of ur family member infront of everyone what will be ur reaction? Looking for ur replies! :-) "
Sure, I have a reply. I forgive him. I've done it before and I'll do it again, just in case you wonder whether I'm just saying it out of idealism. You know why? Because that's what my religion teaches me.
What would YOU do? Beat him up? Kill him? Send him to the hospital? Wow. I'm sorry but mere words from a cheap person do NOTHING to reduce my mother and father's honour.
If mere words can damage Muhammad's honour for a billion Muslims, then there's something wrong with the billion Muslims, not with the person's words.
P.S. Regarding what SHOULD be done? The senior or more respected members of the group in that gathering should take that person aside and advise him. The best defence against words is: tada! WORDS!
@Omer: Cool Down guy... you cannot even reach America to slaughter Mark Zuckerberg...
oh for gods sake ppl defending this ban...if U have a problem, STAY AWAY yrself. stop telling me what i can do and what i cannot. we dont live in saudi arabia, we live in pakistan. if u have such a problem with websites that defame the prophet, why dont U start a website in his defence, instead of blocking the offensive one?? u wont b/c u all like to live like ostriches. cant see the problem, therefore problem doesnt exist, and so i dont need to do anything to address it. well the prophet himself never took any drastic action against those who insulted him, let me tell u that much - he ignored them and let them go on with whatever they were doing - and he never advocated that they get killed or ostracised or anything else of that sort. u declare yr undying love for the prophet? his honor is important to u? GO FOLLOW HIS SUNNAH IN THIS MATTER and stop trying to make others feel guilty for using a certain website to market their businesses, connect with friends and family.
I appreciate the expressions of all friends. Apart from this I just want to ask.all.of u above a question randomly. You're at ur friends place in a gathering and ur friend insult ur father/mother or any of ur family member infront of everyone what will be ur reaction? Looking for ur replies! :-)
Websites making anti-Semitic remarks are banned immediately. So why this hue and cry about the holiest book of the world. Any website that hurts the sentiments of more then 1.6 billion muslims should be banned immediately.
Its like closing your own eyes to avoid them... Allah! can't there be a better way to deal with them?
@Logic can save lives: Facebook has lot of pages which are derogatory to Islam and to Prophet (PBUH). There is a contest for drawing the pictures of our beloved Prophet.
Now Muslims of Pakistan have to make a decision: now, which is important to you? The honor of our beloved Prophet or your Social Network?
How can you spend time in Facebook when you know that the same website is being made use of to make fun of our beloved person? Is Facebook more important than the honor and good name and reputation and goodwill of our Prophet?
if you are a True Muslim, you should go to mosques regularly and build a network there and use the network to spread Islam and use the network to counter the lies about our religion.
The is an utter disgrace, are we still living in stone ages?what about facebook pages promoting Islam and awareness against terrorism of mqm and other parties?This is as stupid as it could get,Facebook is a social site where all the people of the world gets connected, we must protest against these undemocratic practices which will only increase extremist tendency in our society,shame on them they cant hang criminals and murderers but they are very sensitive to anything said against Islam,what hypocrisy is this? Where is the right of freedom of expression!!!!!!!!!!!
Good thing i'm going to have my exams...
Banning something is not the solution.......................we should take rather more compitent steps ............
We should totally ban all the websites promoting hatred by muslims also. All these sites encouraging jihad, fighting against everyone, etc. Definitely block them! As a muslim my job is to turn away from anyone talking ill of the prophet(s). That's what he (s) did himself.
I request LHC and Supreme court of Pakistan to Ban Porn sites which are accessible to everybody.school Boys and girls are addicted of these site and thus are unable to concentrate on their studies.This should not be tolerated anymore.
There should be a like and dislike button.
@ Omer so did the prophet asked him to do this or not? I remember the verse which say he who kills one human is like he has killed the humanity.
No further comment.
@malik: c'mon? what has religion got to do with anything?
I think islam doesn't prohibit the use of common sense.
Why are our people and courts still wasting resources on these senseless matters?
Any matter against islam and all this attention and rhetoric and bans - when it comes to actually addresing the REAL PROBLEMS such as inflation, extremism/terrorism ,poverty and corruption?
Mash'allah Pakistan has banned facebook!?!?!? FACEPALM
We should look at how much islamic fundamentalism has destroyed our country, some of the blame can be put at the cold war and the US funding of terrorist brewing. But our government and the uneducated, narrowminded and deeply religously emotional people of our nation are partly to blame too!
The problem may actually be due to 'culture' rather than 'religion'. some parts of our culture (and judiciary system) actually encourages suppresion, seggregation, intolerance and narrow mindedness?
Why can't we just;
follow the five pillars of islam Become good human beings, the quran provides various guidelines as to how this can be achieved. * Respect all other human beings regardless of ethinicity, gender ,caste, religion or views/opinions* Why does our government decide whether we are muslim or not - are they god? why does our government decide what we can watch and what we can't watch? Our nation has derailed from the independence speech and the ideology it reflects. Why do we even bother with the white stripe on our flag? May Allah guide our nation, our people to the right path.And the sites of radical islamists who call for violence are not "hurting the feelings of millions of muslims"? Hypocrites!
Please first consider to block porn sites for god sakes
Omer Changezi,
I am surprised that Tribune has published your post. Your are clearly inciting people to kill.
@Umer Arain: Based on shapes, sizes, and thinking: Humpty Dumpty Numpty.
finally it should be banned
Welcome to BANNISTAN...ha ha ha!!
The logo of facebook as title picture is misleading as facebook is not blocked.
If anyone is offended one can report that page or something like that, It reminds me of the days going on Orkut, All the religious war and country war use to run over there and it was out of control and Orkut got destroyed itself, Its now happening with Facebook and making it bit dirty.
There are 10 Million Porn websites why aren't they blocked?
o please! this is the height of intolerance...hatred is being spread about the non muslims as well on FB and such sites..no one seems to be bothered about that. I have seen people degrading, making fun and posting crap about Krishna and other Deities ! what about violence and spreading religious hatred of minorities?? besides, there are many other critical issues going on right now in Pakistan which needs attention and some action..but sad, nothing is being done about it. what is the use of imposing a ban on Facebook? After some time people will start with this all over again. what will you do then to stop these people. Moreover, if Muslims have strong faith in their religion; Allah and Muhammad P.B.U.H then such thing on facebook does not matter at all..Let them say, let them talk crap about others religion, they will be punished for what they do. respect others religion and they will respect yours!
Such are the reactions racists are trying to get out of them but they wont understand. Instead deprive the nation from spreading out the peace message which islam teaches us. About time they should start hiring intellectuals at such positions where polices are made with some sense!
The LHC again proving that it has no purpose in real life since this is the biggest issue they got to work on.
All subversive activities should be brought to justice transparently. This includes media, sites, blogs, NGOs and individuals as well. Sooner we do this sooner we can restore tranquillity in our society. Before the media explosion barelvi, deobandi, ahl-e-hadees, shia, chrisitians, hindus and parsi all lived peacefully as Pakistani. Media, pseudo-intellectuals have created rifts in our society on purpose and greater plan for disintegrating the country with time tested rule of divide and rule.
I strongly oppose this... FB is a social Network where u find things which are good and devious, and blocking such will never help... There are hundreds of pages and thousands of users who are Alhamdulillah promoting Islam & guiding the misguided... so will their work be interrupted, and this is how one should fight with non-social elements, not to just quit it..... If the world is a bad place, does this mean to stop living..? NO! but to stand for for good to make it a better place....
This is insanity and not religious at all. If it was religious, they should have banned porn websites instead of banning facebook. Its backing is political and total disappointing orders from LHC. When people will not be able to get their frustration out and not talk to their friends, this is going to result in revolt.
Those "millions of Muslims" who have been hurt can boycott Facebook themselves. Why does the government think it can decide on my behalf whether I'm being offended or not?
If this isn't fascism, I don't know what it is.
Can I ask that banning means also the page is deleted and inaccesible to viewers in other countries. Certainly not.
Good to hear it. I am not very religious minded, but dual role of Facebook is not very convincing for me. To those who were not hurt or think the decision is bad, I put a question. Why they didn`t allow Holocaust day but allowed Draw Muhammad Day, while both were inciting violence? We have alternatives of Facebook. This decision ll neither isolate Pakistan nor ll cause any harm to our society. It ll not destroy Facebook either. But it ll give a message to Facebook that dual standards is not the way to go.
Why LHC does not issues some strict order to ban all those parties which carries with them the word "Lashkar"?????? To ban websites will make no difference until different outfits now more than active are banned not only in Punjab but also elsewhere in the country.
I'm sure Google Plus has something to do with this
These people have lost all sense and sensibility, blocking facebook solves nothing! The petitioners have enough time to go through the whole litigation process yet they do not understand that their actions are only doing what the creators of those pages intended to do...incite and engage. Don't these petitioners have anything good to do, what about banning factions who call other Muslims infidels and are against any protection given to the minorities. Wake up mister petitioner and LHC the world has changed and it requires us to change and to become examples to convince everyone what Islam truly is by actions like these bans we are only degrading the name of our great religion and its values... Tolerance and sanity would serve us better than a ban!
@Shahzal Ali: You want to ban porn in an already frustrated and sexually repressed society?
Next step is to ban paper and ink .. since they were also used to the same ends by the danish and so many more ... we have to ban paper and ink !! .. I will be really hurt if we dont !!
Ban the Fbook
It is unfortunate that many Pakistani friends will not have access to their Facebook friends across the Globe. When many hardcore Islamic countries are allowing Facebook why should Pakistan react so badly. They can as well raise objection to Facebook to block such specific members who are posting objectionable photographs. They have no objection to Porno sites and Militant sites which are objectionable to Islam but found Facebook as a whole objectionable. Very sad indeed.
Dear Rehman Malik, instead of banning Facebook/Google/Youtube; Why don't you ban all pornographic sites!! #JustAsking
What about YouTube? It has more material to 'hurt sentiments' than all websites put together.
YouTube and all video sites should be banned. Otherwise, people will keep on hurting the sentiments of millions of Muslims all over the world.
I also wonder, why is that no one is bothered about hurting the religious sentiments of Jews, Buddhists, Jains, Bahais, Christians, Hindus, etc etc etc ? Why people are obsessed with drawing the picture of Prophet (PBUH) but not Krishna or Rama or Buddha or Christ?
Why the entire world is interested to hurt only our sentiments? WHY? Is it because we are the fastest growing religion in the world?
Well a very idiotic step taken by lhc. They should block porn sites instead which are spoiling the youth rather than blocking the only social platform . Highly dissappointed.
Intolerance at its worst. who gave the LHC the authority to become the world's religious police?
Why dont we just ban everything and start living in caves like "good muslims"? Unbelievable that the only solution to anything you don't agree with is to ban it. Intolerant much??
Are they teaming up with Google+?
Sites inciting extreme violence against the minorities in Pakistan should also be banned.
What madness.. The issue clearly isnt facebook when clearly and evidently so, after yesterday's incidents in Karachi and Peshawar reflects once again, the problem lies within us (Pakistan)!
Sanity!
"...... consequently hurting the feelings of millions of Muslims" I wasn't hurt