Mark Zuckerberg on January 9 defended the people’s right of ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘freedom of expression.’ He said ‘Facebook has always been a place where people from across the world share their views. He said “We follow the laws in each country, but we never let a country or a group of people dictate, what people can share.” His statement actually refers to the blasphemy act of satirical French magazine Charlie Habdo, in which they published blasphemous cartoons in their magazine and those blasphemous cartoons were published by Facebook, for which the magazine was targeted by extremists.
According to Mark Zuckerberg he wants to make Facebook a place where people can speak, share and write freely without fear of violence, but I would like to ask him is this freedom of speech and expression only for the west? If not, then why status of Pakistani actor and director Hamza Ali Abbasi was removed by Facebook when he condemned the brutal attack on Muslims and tried to explain Muslims devotion to Prophet Mohammad (SAW). If Facebook and other social media sites encourage freedom of speech, then why do they continuously and shamefully drown the voices of those which rise in favor of innocent people and who expose the brutality of a ruthless country like Israel?
People and countries who claim to be pioneers of freedom of speech do not act on the law which is enforced in more than 20 countries, where denying the holocausts is a crime, even talking about this or in favor of Hitler could cause trouble. No sane person would defend blasphemous cartoons or disrespect of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW), would anyone say that this was done just for fun? Freedom of speech and freedom of expression should be within limit, time has come to determine the limitations of these ‘Freedoms’ and how to differentiate between freedom of expression and insult or disrespect.
Freedom of expression refers to criticism, disagreement or rejection of faith, ideologies, beliefs and doctrines not to insult or disrespect someone feelings. World must have to understand the sensitivity of the matter and end these double standards, otherwise more unpleasant attacks will continue.
MUHAMMAD ALI,
Wah Cantt, January 12.