PTA told to report on internet profanity | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

PTA told to report on internet profanity

LAHORE, Aug 4: Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought report from Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the director of Telecom Wireless about action taken against exhibition of blasphemous material on internet and its access in the country.

Earlier, Telecom Wireless director Mudassar Husain informed the court that on the complaint of Pakistan authorities the administration of Facebook, a social networking website, removed blasphemous and objectionable material. He further said that many other websites, including youtube.com and wikipedia.com, had also removed such material from their webpage.

The director said many other websites also showed objectionable material but nobody noticed that or filed petition with the court.

Mr. Husain said an inter-ministerial committee was formed in 2006 to control such acts and the petitioner could approach it for the removal of objectionable material from internet.

Petitioner advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, also the Judicial Activism Panel chairman, rejected the statement of the director, saying that objectionable material was still accessible in the country.

He said the director previously undertook before the court that the authorities could block hatred material within 24 hours after its display.

Justice Ijaz Chaudhry directed Mr. Husain to apprise on next hearing about the steps they took to block the objectionable material from internet.

The judge allowed three-week time to him for filing of the reply and also annexed two other identical petitions with the main case.

Mr Siddique in his petition sought a permanent ban on the Facebook in Pakistan for repeating its blasphemous acts.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/5/2010