70 percent of Pakistanis want permanent ban on Facebook: Poll

KARACHI - A new poll has revealed that 70 percent people in Pakistan want a permanent ban on the social networking website Facebook, while another 15 percent support the Lahore High Court’s order to ban the website till May 31.

According to the ‘ProPakistani.pk’ poll, the participants expressed their sheer anger on Facebook for displaying blasphemous drawings of Prophet Muhammad.

In the first three days of the poll, which is still running, eight percent participants were of the opinion that a single URL ban was enough, while the remaining seven percent said they did not want ban on Facebook at all.

Acting on the court’s decision the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had earlier directed all Internet service providers in the country to shut down Facebook, as protests over the Prophet Muhammad issue had intensified across the country.

Commenting on the poll results, Jabran Rafique, a student, said that thousands of people had complained to Facebook to remove the blasphemous content through the website’s standard reporting procedure, but no action was taken.

“But on the other hand they only took 20 minutes to shut down a page against Jewish on demand of some so-called Jewish cyber force. Does it not a discrimination against only one race and religion? We must not use Facebook ever again,” The Nation quoted Rafique, as saying. (ANI)