ISLAMABAD: Popular social networking website Facebook will send a delegation to Pakistan for investigating content that the government considers to be blasphemous, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said.
The government had approached Facebook earlier this week regarding access to the records of three controversial pages “spreading blasphemous content”, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Mazhar Kakakhail said.
Facebook in its reply said it was aware of the government’s reservations and that it wanted to resolve the issue via bilateral dialogue and mutual understanding, the Interior Ministry spokesperson added.
The official further said that Facebook had also named a focal person to communicate with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The IHC is hearing a case pertaining to the dissemination of blas-phemous content through the social media.
The case, filed by Salman Shahid, argues that the presence of blasphemous content on social media websites is “hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims”.
The petition also alleged that pages and videos defaming Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and revered personalities had not been blocked by the respondents, while no step had been taken to remove the content. Three of the ‘blasphemous’ pages had already been blocked, whereas five to six other pages carrying blasphemous content had been marked, the FIA DG had told the court in a hearing on Monday. Kakakhail had further said that an application would be filed under international laws if the Facebook management failed to comply with the Pakistani government’s request. “We are at an early stage of inquiry in this regard,” he added.
