Facebook back in Pak following Lahore High Court’s order of lifting ban
By ANIMonday, May 31, 2010
LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Monday directed the concerned authorities to lift the ban imposed on popular networking site-Facebook, nearly two weeks after it was blocked following widespread protests against it for carrying blasphemous contents.
Reversing an earlier order, LHC Judge Ejaz Chaudhry asked the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to lift sanctions on the website, saying the court is against blocking any access to information.
“Restore Facebook. We don’t want to block access to information,” The News quoted Justice Chaudhry, as saying.
He asked the government to develop a system to block access to “blasphemous” contents on the internet, which he said was already in place in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
“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.
A contest ‘Everyone Draw Mohammed Day’, which was organised by a Facebook user calling on people to draw a caricature of Prophet Mohammed to promote ‘freedom of expression’ had sparked a major backlash in Pakistan, which saw massive protests across the country. (ANI)
