ISLAMABAD - A petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against secretaries of interior, the ministry of IT and other respondents was moved in the Islamabad High Court for not complying with court orders, which had directed the PTA to block pages or websites containing blasphemous material.
The petition has been moved by a citizen, Salman Shahid. He has nominated Arif Ahmad Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Azmat Ali Ranjha, Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Muhammad Amlish, Director General, Federal Investigation Agency, Dr Syed Ismaeel Shah, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and others as respondents.
The petitioner said the pages and videos containing blasphemous content against the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Sahab-e-Karam, wives of the Prophet, the Holy Quran and Allah Almighty have not been blocked by the respondents, nor any steps have been taken, and as a result, the culprits have been encouraged and they have fearlessly opened new pages with different names.
He contended that the respondents have neither provided an advance copy of the report and para-wise comments to the petitioner’s counsel nor have taken any step for the compliance of the express and speaking orders of this court. They have also failed to take any remedial steps to stop/block the blasphemous pages as directed by the court.
The petitioner argued that the respondents have thus deliberately declined to obey the order of this court and have committed the offence of contempt of court under law of the land.
Therefore, he prayed that the court may initiate the contempt proceedings against the respondents for non-compliance of the order dated 27-02-2017.
In its previous order, the IHC had directed the PTA to block pages or websites containing blasphemous material on social media and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had also directed the respondents and Inspector General (IG) Islamabad police to submit their replies within one week and to appear in person before the court at the next date of hearing scheduled for March 7 (today).