LHC lifts ban on Facebook

Lahore High court on Monday asked the government to restore access to social networking site Facebook and said it should develop a system to block access to "blasphemous" content on the internet and if such content appears again than the facebook would be banned again. A ban was imposed on Facebook after one of its users organised an online contest calling on people to draw Prophet Mohammed's cartoon to promote "freedom of expression". Justice Ejaz Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court issued the directive, reversing its May 19 order on the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to block Facebook over "blasphemous" drawings of Prophet Mohammed on the website. "Restore Facebook. We don't want to block access to information," Chaudhry told the court. Mudassir Hussain, an official from the information technology ministry, told the court that all links to "blasphemous" content on the Internet would remain blocked in Pakistan. However the mover of the petition Azhar Siddique Advocate and Islamic Lawyers Forum objected that on June 10 Facebook Is holding another contest of blasphemous caricatures. On this the court said that if such an act is repeated than we would block Facebook once again. Counsel for Islamic Lawyers Movement Ch Zulfiqar Ali Said Pakistan is an Islamic country and under article 2(A) of the constitution all actions that are against the Islamic provisions are illegal and several content in the facebook are in negation to the Islamic provisions On this the court also asked the government to develop a system to block access to "blasphemous" content on the Internet. "It is the government's job to take care of such things, which spark resentment among the people and bring them onto the streets. They should take steps to block any blasphemous content on the Internet," Justice Chaudhry said.

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