Lahore High Court (LHC) has been filed a petition sought a permanent ban on Facebook in Pakistan as it has been a platform to encourage “anti-Islam activity” under the pretext of freedom of expression.

The petition was filed by Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) Chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique on Monday in the Lahore High Court, stating the website again announced a contest named “Everybody Burn Quran Day” (nauzubillah) and also displayed blasphemous pictures of Khana-i-Kaaba.

The petitioner sought the act be declared illegal, un-Islamic, unconstitutional and against the injunctions of Islam.

He also prayed the authorities in Pakistan be directed that no blasphemous material be published, displayed, visualized or aired in the country.

Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court has sought the stance of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to the demand for a permanent ban on Facebook.

Authority Stance

The ministry and its subordinate authorities will not tolerate to get access that websites having blasphemous content, Nagiubullah Malik secretary IT ministry said.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) detected this websites a couple of days earlier and informed it to ministry concerned to decide its display in the country, sources said.

Sources in the IT ministry said the inter-ministerial committee has been analyzing all possible measures to block the links and pages on Facebook containing sacrilegious material.

The committee is responsible to block all such websites containing sacrilegious material without any court’s verdict.

However, blasphemous links of this website could be viewed in Pakistan.

PTA Past Actions

In May 2010, the Facebook has been blocked from May 19-30 in Pakistan. It also restricted youtube.com, a video sharing website, on the same account.

During the period, it blocked the access of more than 1,400 URLs, links and pages.

The authority also ordered all cellular operators to block all such websites on its internet services promptly, which also caused suspension of Blackberry services for a day

Breaking News: Petition in LHC Sought Permanent Ban on Facebook