ISLAMABAD - The government has called a meeting of ambassadors of all Muslim-majority countries tomorrow (Friday) here in Islamabad to make a joint plan of action for tackling issue of blasphemous content on social media.

“I have invited all Muslim ambassadors on Friday for a meeting on one-point agenda [that is] how to tackle the issue of blasphemous content on social media,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said, while addressing a press conference at Punjab House on Wednesday.

There should a be a joint plan of action of all Muslim-majority countries on the issue to convey the sentiments of 1.2 billion Muslims and send an effective message to the service providers of social media websites, he said.

The minister said that the interior ministry was playing a proactive role and the case had moved ahead with some developments.

Facebook had already expressed its consent to send its delegation to Pakistan to address the issue, he said.

“I would share the details of the case being heard in the Islamabad High Court with the ambassadors,” Nisar said.

The minister said that with the approval of the prime minister, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Raabta Alam-e-Islami were being approached to use those platforms to address the issue.

He again warned of introducing tough curbs against social networking websites, if their administration did not help get the issue resolved.

“We will not hesitate to take strict action,” Nisar said.  He said that the government would take action if blasphemous content was not blocked or people did not desist from circulating it on social media.

Over the remarks of Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah that federal institutions would be sent packing from the province if they did not stop taking discriminatory measures, the interior minister said the statement was unconstitutional.

The statement is serious and no responsible person can think about it.

He said that the PPP during its regime had been appointing its party’s office bearers as heads of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) but no one objected to it.

Shah said that neither any CM of any province could do this nor had any such powers.

CM Sindh had given the statement after the brief arrest and release of former information minister Sindh and PPP leader Sharjeel Memon.

On the issue of the FIA’s probe on Pakistan Super League (PSL) spot-fixing scandal, the minister said that the agency and Pakistan Cricket Board (PBC) had been directed to work together to probe the case.

The FIA and the PCB would hold a meeting and decide how to proceed together on the matter of spot fixing.

He said that a lot of false news continued to appear on media about investigation in the matter.

Nisar said that a number of spot-fixing incidents appeared in the past and in one such incident, three Pakistani players had to go to jail of a foreign country despite facing ban.

This had damaged the repute of the country and the issue needed to be probed and this practice should end now.

Nisar said that it was not true that the FIA had already determined the extent of gambling and number of players involved in the crime.

The forensic evidence for the FIA investigation was awaited, he said.

Nisar again made it clear that the FIA did not need to write or apply to anybody to initiate a probe, and assured that it would completely investigate the matter. The issue was not that easy to handle as bookies in an underworld were operating from places like India, England and Dubai, he remarked.

Nisar said that the government would seek mutual legal assistance from other countries with an aim to root out the crime.

On another issue, he said that Islamabad Police had decided not to provide security to the courts within the jurisdiction of the capital territory following an incident of brutal torture of a police official by the lawyers’ community in a court.

The official was tortured for impounding motorcycle of a lawyer at night when he was driving without documents, he said.

A delegation of police high ups met him and conveyed that it would not be possible for them to provide security for courts after this incident, he said.

He added that police had been asked to continue with provision of security and the matter was being solved out.

The minister said in the past, lawyers were involved in many incidents of abuse of judges, media persons and others.

A committee has been formed to take up the matter with the registrar of the Islamabad High Court and local bar association, he said, and hoped that the issue would be resolved amicably.

He also asked the lawyers’ association to take notice of the matter and move ahead to resolve it.