Federal govt directed to raise issue on int’l platform

Issue involved carrying blasphemous material against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Holy Quran on Facebook.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Federal government to take to the international forums the issue of carrying blasphemous material against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Holy Quran on Facebook. Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, while hearing a petition seeking action against Facebook for carrying blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Information Technology to submit a report till the next hearing after the winter holidays of the court. He said that the report should mention details about the steps taken by the ministries to stop the display of anti-Islamic content on the internet.

Earlier, Deputy Attorney General Naveed Inayat Malik had submitted a report of the Foreign Ministry in the court stating the government’s efforts to mobilise the member countries of the OIC in order to table a resolution against blasphemous material on Facebook. The court also directed the petitioner to regularly monitor the said website and inform the court in case he again encounters blasphemous content.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2010.