No more facebook in Pakistan

Pak court orders blocking of Facebook till May 31

PTI | May 19, 2010



A Pakistani court today directed authorities to temporarily block Facebook till May 31 over the holding of a competition on blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammed as protests against the social networking website were held across the country.

Justice Ijaz Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court issued the order to block Facebook while acting on a petition filed by the Islamic Lawyers Forum, which sought a complete ban on the website.

The court directed the foreign ministry to raise the issue of the blasphemous caricatures at the international level.

The judge also directed the Foreign Secretary to register a protest with the concerned countries.

He also sought a response on the issue from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Following protests in several parts of Pakistan against the posting of the caricatures on Facebook and a competition on the blasphemous cartoons that will continue till May 20, several Internet Service Providers restricted access to the website.

Protests against the caricatures were organised by religious parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Jamiat Tulba and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Lahore, Kasur, Narowal, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Peshawar yesterday.

"An American organisation which has some 35,000 members is responsible for posting the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed on Facebook and for holding the competition on blasphemous caricatures," said Mohammad Azeem, a student of Punjab University in Lahore.

In 2005, Lahore and other Pakistani cities had witnessed violent protests when blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammed were first published in Europe.

Several business outlets of multinational companies were torched during these protests.

People across Pakistan also received an SMS message on their cell phones that read: "Not to use Facebook on May 18, 19 and 20 so that Facebook faces big loss, so that they never dare to celebrate draw Mohammad (peace be upon him) Day".

A Pakistan Telecommunication Authority official said, "Despite thousands of requests, Facebook didn't pull down this page even though it violated Facebook's own terms of services". .


 

Comments

 

Other News

AI: Code, Control, Conquer

India today stands at a critical juncture in the area of artificial intelligence. While the country is among the fastest adopters of AI in the world, it remains heavily reliant on technologies developed elsewhere. This paradox, experts warn, cannot persist if India seeks technological sovereignty.

RBI pauses to assess inflation risks, policy transmission

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun the new fiscal year with a calibrated pause, keeping the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent in its April Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The decision, taken unanimously, reflects a shift from aggressive policy action to cautious observation after a signi

New pathways for tourism growth

Traditionally, India’s tourism policy has been based on three main components: the number of visitors, building tourist attractions and providing facilities for tourists. Due to the increase in climate-related issues and environmental destruction that occurred over previous years, policymakers have b

Is the US a superpower anymore?

On April 8, hours after warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight,” US president Donald Trump, exhibiting his unique style of retreating from high-voltage brinkmanship, announced that he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. The weekend talks in Islamabad have failed and the futur

Machines communicate, humans connect

There is a moment every event professional knows—the kind that arrives without warning, usually an hour before the curtain rises. Months of meticulous planning are in place. And then comes the call: “We’ll also need a projector. For the slides.”   No email

Why India is entering a ‘stagflation lite’ phase

India’s macroeconomic narrative is quietly shifting—from a rare “Goldilocks” equilibrium of stable growth and contained inflation to a more fragile phase where external shocks are beginning to dominate domestic policy outcomes. The numbers still look reassuring at first glance: GDP


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter